The viking girl and the hybrid
by ReapingPhant0m
Summary: What if Hiccup always had a very close friend from early childhood. What if fate had deemed that this friend become a human/dragon hybrid. How would life play out for a lonely viking girl who's hated by her tribe and her friend who's torn between two races at war. Retelling of the first movie with female Hiccup and male Astrid. Rated M for occasional violence.
1. Chapter 1: Becoming a dragon

Firstly, I would like to thank my one friend who inspired me to do this story (though he'd prefer to remain anonymous). Secondly, I'd like to thank LittleMissEmy for creating the cover image. Also, my OC for the story was cut and pasted from my Mass Effect stories (it was my friends request as he said my OC from those stories looked like a human/dragon hybrid).

The first 3 chapters will begin five years before the start of the first movie and will focus heavily on my OC in order to establish him as a character, his transformation into a hybrid, and his place in the story.

I don't own any How To Train Your Dragon content. All i own is my OC and any dragon species that i have made up for the purpose of the story. So without furthur delay, I hope you all enjoy the story.

* * *

><p>The island of Berk. An island that's 12 days North of hopeless and a few degrees South of freezing, located solidly on the meridian of misery. Worse in winter whereby you risk getting frostbite in your spleen. On the upside, there is a good view of the sunsets and occasionally gets a good view of the Northern Lights. In short it's somewhere in the Archipelago sea.<p>

It also has some pests that are somewhat difficult to live with. Where most places have to deal with rats, mice or mosquitoes, Berk has to deal with dragons.

Despite these hardships, Berk has been made a home by the viking tribe known as the Hairy Hooligan tribe for nearly 300 years. But why would they live on this inhospitable island? Why would they live on an island that has terrible food produce, suffers from the cold and has a dragon infestation? It's because they're vikings. Most would call it an occupational hazard but really it was just because vikings are some of the most stubborn people you will meet.

The vikings of Berk all live for one thing and one thing only; dragon killing. If you could not do that one task, then you would quickly find yourself an outcast of the group. This could be said for two young viking children named Hiccup Horrendous Haddock lll and Draven Mothlyn ll who as much as they dreamed of being like the rest of the village, everyone knew that would never happen.

Hiccup was a ten year old girl with emerald green eyes and short auburn hair which she kept in a braid. She wore a green tunic, thick black leggings, brown fur vest, brown fur boots and she was the daughter of Stoick the Vast, chief of the village. She would spend her days learning of the world and working as a junior apprentice for Gobber in the forge. One would think that her being the daughter of the chief would mean she would be a great dragon killer herself right? Wrong. Hiccup was a different kind of person with the way she saw the world and the way her mind worked. Being different meant she was ignored by many of the people on the island like Fishlegs and Andor Hofferson, and picked on by others such as her egotistical brat cousin Snotlout Jorganson and the mentally challenged twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut.

Hiccup never knew her mother other than her name was Valka and her father was never really around for her. Either he was running the village or didn't want to be associated with his own daughter every time she made a mistake.

Draven was an eleven year old boy with dark brown eyes and pale white hair who usually dressed in dark learners and furs. His father was a fishermen and mother was an explorer. His family lived outside the village in a cottage in the woods as they preferred the quiet. Draven was a different person to the average viking like Hiccup and also got picked on or ignored but not as much as Hiccup. Even though he was only an eleven year old, he worked hard to make his mark on the village and he did have some peoples respect for that. He knew how to operate a boat as he often went on fishing trips with his father, he was adventurous and knew the entire island at the back of his hand (land, sea and subterranean), he worked alongside Hiccup in the forge as a junior apprentice and he had a strange fascination with dragons. The inquisitive wanting to learn about them and imagine life working with them kind of fascination.

Draven also felt alone from time to time being as his mother would spend long periods of time out at sea exploring and his father who was also a typical dragon killer was always working at the docks. Both of which didn't quite approve of Draven's fascination with dragons. Due to their hardships, Hiccup and Draven only ever had each other in their lives. They were incredibly close friends ever since she was five and he was six.

...

It was a chilly Spring day for the people of the island. Draven's mother had been gone for two weeks now as she was charting the ocean and was expected to return home later that day. Draven was aboard a fishing boat with his father and three other men.

Draven was hauling in their starboard fishing net when he looked towards the horizon and then into the clear Northern waters.

He turned around to the port side of the boat where his father was and tugged on his shirt. "Father!" he said with urgency.

Draven senior who finished pulling in the port net turned to his son and plainly replied "What is it son?"

Draven pointed out to the West and said "Storm is coming, a bad one." His father and the crew looked out to the horizon and saw several dark lightning clouds coming towards Berk.

"How do you know it will be a bad one?" one viking asked Draven.

Draven pointed to the water and replied "While pulling in the starboard net, I noticed a Scauldron and two Thunderdrums moving away from the island as well a herd of Terrible Terrors flying out the woods towards a small cave in those sea stacks. They wouldn't move out like that unless they thought something bad was coming."

"BWUHAHAHAHA" the four men laughed as Draven's senior put a hand on his son's shoulder and said "Ha, son. I don't know where yer' get your stories but you know how to make people laugh."

Draven rolled his eyes and took a breath to explain but before he could say anything, his father turned away from his son and ordered the other men to bring the boat back to port to drop off their load of fish.

Frustrated that the adults took his warning as a joke, he walked towards the front of the boat and sat on a barrel as he watched the docks getting closer.

As their ship pulled in to the dock, Draven senior came up behind his son and put an arm over his sons shoulder, "You've helped out quite a lot today, and you've at least lightened the mood with yer' humor. You can take the rest of the day off."

Draven shrugged his father's arm off as he climbed out the boat. "I wasn't trying to be funny. I was trying to warn you that danger is coming but you never listen to me. None of you ever do." Draven coldly said in a shaky voice as he stormed off towards the town.

Draven senior simply let out a deep sigh as he watched his only child climb the ramps to the village. He found it fascinating how his son would come to his conclusions with the world around him and he was usually right... Half the time. Yet at the same time, he just wished he and his son could connect better.

Stoick was delegating a matter in the dock and saw the whole situation. He approached Draven senior who was offloading the catch of fish and said to him "Problems with yer' boy I see."

All the father could do is reply back "Ah my boy thinks that there's danger coming our way just because he saw some storm clouds and thinks he saw some sea dragons swim away from the island. I love my boy but sometimes I just don't get what he says or thinks."

Stoick put his right hand over Draven senior's shoulder and said reassuringly "Ah I can attest to that. I sometimes have the same problem with Hiccup when she tells me what she plans to build in the forge or where she thinks she'll find trolls in the woods. Don't worry about it Draven, they're only 10 and 11. Let them play with their imagination. They'll eventually come round to being like us."

Draven senior turned to his chief with a small smile, "Thanks for that chief. I just hope that despite their differences, our children will be of great importance one day."

...

Draven was wondering through the village and walked through the market place towards the bread stand. After purchasing a small loaf which he paid with a basket of fish he had, he placed it in his satchel and began walking up the hill towards the Haddock household.

While making his way, he walked past a yak stable and heard some snickering from around the corner. He could hear that the laughing belonged to Snotlout and the twins. "You guys see the way she ran off whimpering into the woods. Man it's just to easy getting a kick out of Hiccup. She's such a loser." Snotlout maniacally said. Draven began to ball his fist and reacted.

He entered the stable, grabbed a shovel, scooped up a large steaming pile of yak dung and made his way back outside. He could still hear the three brats around the corner and so he made his move.

He turned the corner whilst shouting "SPECIAL DELIVERY!" and hurled the yak dung straight into the faces of Snotlout and the twins.

The twins had stumbled down and before Snotlout could react, Draven had closed the distance between them and hit Snotlout hard in the gut with the handle end of the shovel.

Snotlout dropped to the ground clutching his stomach when he felt the shovel press against his neck. He opened his eyes to see Draven looming over his body staring daggers at him. "Want some free advice Snotlout; leave your cousin alone. I couldn't care less that your dad is related to Stoick and by extension you think you have a tie to the role of chief, which you don't have a hope in hell of getting. You leave my friend alone." Draven scowled in a dark cold voice.

Draven pulled the the shovel back, tossed it to the ground and proceeded with his business, leaving the village bullies to clean themselves up of yak dung.

...

Draven wondered the woods for about an hour looking for his closest friend. "HICCUP...HICCUP." he shouted as he combed the woods for her.

He eventually began to hear crying behind several bushes and trees and found Hiccup sitting on a broken log with tears falling down her cheeks.

Draven walked up to Hiccup and sat beside his friend, putting his right arm over her shoulders. "You okay?" he said in a soft calming voice, the complete opposite to the voice he had earlier that day.

"Yeah." Hiccup replied weakly. "Just the twins calling me names again and Snotlout throwing pebbles at me."

Draven felt tense from his anger and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. He opened his satchel and pulled out the bread he bought from earlier. He gave Hiccup one half and he stated "Don't worry about them. They're in a bit of a...crap situation right now."

Hiccup knew her friend well and knew what he meant by that. She couldn't help but let out a small chuckle as she tried to bite into the bread. Draven saw her smile again. That cute smile and laugh he liked so much about her.

Hiccup looked into Draven's eyes and she could see he was irritated despite his calm mood and smile. "What is it?" she asked nervously thinking it might have been something she did.

"Ah, it's just my dad. I was trying to warn him that a bad storm is approaching. Even gave him evidence that it'll be bad seeing as I saw several tidal dragons vacating the island waters and all I get out of it is all of them laughing in my face thinking I'm joking."

Hiccup knew that feeling all too well. How she would work as hard as she could to please her father and the village and all she ever got were disappointed looks and sideways glares.

Hiccup and Draven continued to talk over the next hour and even play tag through the woods as they tried to forget the days events.

The two children were laughing as they chased each other through the trees. Draven had the advantage of knowing the land at the back of his hand. Every tree, rock, log, river, hill and cave he would try use to his advantage. Hiccup had the advantage of speed and agility. She was a much faster runner than Draven and could take a corner much easier that he could.

The two continued on like this until the woods began to grow dark and the storm began to descend on the island. Draven and Hiccup then felt a small drop on each of their heads. Draven held out his hand and felt it was going to start raining any second now. "Oh no. How we gonna get back home in time?" Hiccup said nervously. Draven smiled as he reassuringly replied "Well isn't it a good thing you know me."

Draven grabbed Hiccup by the hand and lead her about 50 meters to a small clearing in the trees. He pulled back the one bush at the base of an old oak to reveal a tunnel. "This tunnel will take us straight back to the village. It comes out at the treeline 20 meters from the village entrance."

The two entered the tunnel and Draven lit their way with a portable torch and a piece of flint he kept in his satchel. In a few minutes, the two made it to the village and back into the open. When they exited the tunnel however, they found that the rain had stopped. Surely a storm of that size couldn't have only let off five minutes of rain.

They looked to the sky to see it was pitch black with purplish lightning bolts arcing from cloud to cloud and strange menacing silhouettes appearing in the clouds. If that wasn't strange enough for the people of Berk, there was also an unholy screeching coming from within the storm. "What's going on?" Hiccup asked nervously as she held on Draven's arm. "I'm not too sure. I have a hunch but I hope I'm wrong." he said as his mind raced as to what was inside the cloud.

...

Draven escorted Hiccup across the bridge and about half way through the village as he tried to get her home safely. However as they were passing through the plaza, Draven's suspicions were confirmed when a deafening banshee-like screech came from the clouds and a dragon emerged, headed straight for the docks. The dragon was a Wraith.

Draven remembered what he had read about Wraiths in the book of dragons. Wraiths are basically a flying shop of horrors, as if created by the devil himself in one of the deepest pits of hell. They were one of the rarest breeds and over the centuries, had evolved to take on the appearances and abilities of multiple breeds of dragons.

They were about the same size of Monstrous Nightmares and had four wings like Storm Cutters. They glowed blue on soft parts of their skin and had jet black scales on hard armoured areas. They also had glowing eyes and had two layers to their skulls; an endoskeleton and an exoskeleton. The exoskeleton was their two horns which the bases extended all around their head like a helmet. It was a similar trait to a Boneknapper with the difference being that a Wraith's second skull grew naturally and had a silver like colour to them. They also had a very long tail with a three fingered claw on the end.

For offense, they could either shoot plasma bolts, raise their skin temperatures like Fireworms, use their razor wings like a Timberjack or manipulate lightning and storms to an extent, similar to Skrills but not as powerful. Wraiths also preferred to stay in dark areas, either flying at night or in really dense storms. This meant that they would weaken or hurt themselves if exposed to direct sunlight.

Lastly, they could not reproduce naturally like normal dragons or animals. They reproduce by infecting other dragons, animals or even humans with its venom which in turn transforms them into Wraiths. The Wraith drawback is that it needs to maintain its bite for a full ten seconds. Any shorter than seven seconds and the victim would more that likely die.

From where they were, Hiccup and Draven could see a boat coming towards Berk and knew it was Draven's mother returning from her voyage. This was also the the one thing that was between the Wraith and the village.

Everyone in Berk watched helplessly as the Wraith angled downwards and fired two high-powered plasma bolts at the defenseless boat. Draven watched as his mother and her boat exploded in a bright purple explosion and how she was turned into nothingness. "NOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed as he left Hiccup and raced towards the docks.

Hiccup ran for cover by the forge as she saw vikings all around the village moving towards the docks.

The Wraith began firing three more shots towards the dock as Stoick and several other vikings prepared the main catapult. The first boulder fired and the Wraith responded in kind with a plasma bolt, turning the boulder into dust.

Stoick fired a second time to which the Wraith spun in the air and smacked the boulder with its tail. The boulder crashed into the pier where Draven senior and a dozen other vikings were standing with spears waiting for the Wraith to get close.

The men sank into the water and tried to get back into the intact piers before the Wraith would strike again. They never made it. The Wraith's glow intensified and summoned several lightning bolts from the storm into its wings and redirected them into the water filled with vikings and Draven's father.

Draven felt as though a dagger had just gone through his heart. He just saw both his parents die right in front of him. What made it worse is that he never had a chance to tell his parents how much he loved them and that the last time he spoke to his father, he shouted at him and stormed off.

The Wraith flew over the dock and landed in the village plaza whilst swiping its large clawed tail at the vikings around it. The men were stunned and sent backwards, hitting the sounding buildings or the ground with a loud thud.

The large and powerful dragon took in a sniff of the surrounding air and caught the sent of Hiccup who was hiding in the forge. Hiccup knew that all the vikings in the village who could fight the dragon were either stunned in the plaza or were trying to help with the wounded down at the dock. Thinking this was the end, she curled up under one of the tables and began to cry whilst trying to keep as quiet as possible.

As the dragon stuck its head inside the window of the forge looking for his snack, it let out a loud roar of pain as it felt a spear pierce its soft skin on its left rear leg. "HICCUP RUN!" Draven shouted as he charged the beast in a drunken rage. The Wraith may have killed his parents but he sure as hell wouldn't let it harm his closest friend. He didn't care that he was merely an 11 year old, he would attack this monster.

The dragon backed away from the forge as it used its tail to try pull out the spear. What it failed to notice was that Draven had snuck up behind it and lunged onto its back, driving his dagger between two of the beasts lower ribs. "NOW HICCUP! GET OUT OF HERE!" he barked as the dragon lunged back and forth with his dagger in its back and the spear in its leg. Hiccup took her chance and hastily exited the forge, ran around the Wraith to the other end of the plaza and ran up the hill towards her house.

Meanwhile, the wraith had managed to pull out the spear from its left leg and moved it's tail towards its back. In a second, Draven too was screaming in pain as the claw end of the Wraith's tail grabbed his right shoulder with one of the talons piercing his shoulder. The Wraith pulled Draven off its back and extended its tail, pinning Draven to the ground in front of it.

Draven flailed about beneath the beast with his hands struggling to pry the tail out of his bleeding shoulder but to no avail. "Impressive. You are resourceful child, I'll give you that. You will make a fine addition to our numbers." a dark deep voice said in Draven's head. Draven quickly realised where the voice came from. It was the Wraith's voice. The Wraith gripped Draven tighter, opened its jaw and in a flash, shot its tongue into the open wound on Draven's shoulder.

Meanwhile, Stoick who was still on the catapult was overseeing the people who needed medical attention. His attention and the attention of the other five men was pulled away from the dock as they heard a blood curdling scream coming from the village plaza. They all turned around to see the Wraith hovering over somebody with his venom filled tongue in the person's shoulder.

Draven could feel the blood flowing from his wound and the venom moving through his body. He knew it was only a matter of time now.

One second

"Redirect the catapult!" Stoick ordered to the men.

Two seconds

Draven could feel as though his arm was being dipped in a barrel of acid.

Three seconds

"Take aim." Stoick said as the catapult lined up.

Four seconds

'Is this it' Draven thought to himself.

Five seconds

'Is this how my life ends'

Six seconds

"Fire!" Stoick shouted.

All Draven could do as clench his eyes and wait for the end as his entire body burned.

Seven seconds

Eight seconds

Nine seconds

As of the gods themselves had other plans, the boulder from the catapult made its mark at the final moment and hit the Wraith's left side, sending him off of Draven who had only been exposed to the Wraith's venom for nine seconds.

The stunned vikings in the plaza also managed to recover and charged the Wraith. Seeing as he was outnumbered and out off plasma shots, the Wraith gave off one final blinding flash of its glow and shot into the sky. He may not have found a snack, but he did manage to create another Wraith. Or so he thought.

Draven was immediately swarmed by the surrounding vikings. Half came to check on his wounds and to help whilst the other half had swords drawn as they figured Draven might become a Wraith.

The crowd was in Draven's favor as if he was a Wraith, then the transformation would have been instant, but he was still human. "Let's get him to the infirmary." some vikings called out. "Someone get Stoick and Gothi." another shouted.

Careful not to move his body around too much, four vikings gather around Draven and carefully lifted him. It made no difference to Draven as tears were flowing from his eyes and continued to scream in agony from the Wraith venom.

...

When they got to the infirmary, they removed Draven's vest and shirt to examine his wounds. Draven's body was going into fits and seizures from the pain. Some of the nurses had to strap him to the bed to get him to stop moving. Gothi, Gobber and Stoick soon arrived. Stoick and Gobber eyed the young viking and could see what the venom was doing to his body.

His veins close to the surface of his skin around his right arm and neck had bulged and blackened. His eyes kept rolling in his head and he was sweating profusely.

Gothi came up to the young boys right side and examined him. She checked his eyes which kept alternating between orbs and slits, she checked his tongue which was turning a reddish black and becoming forked, and pulse which was highly erratic. She turned to a table and pulled out several herbs from her bag that she began to mix in a bowl.

While she was mixing them, Stoick could see that the wound on Draven's shoulder already seemed to be closing, as if he was his healing was being accelerated by some unknown force.

Gothi finished mixing the herbs and put one half in a soup the nurses made whilst keeping the other half dry. Draven looked over to Gothi and could see by the expression in her face that this was going to hurt. As if that made any difference to him.

Gothi took the dry herbs and rubbed them into the wound on Draven's shoulder. Draven cringed and screamed again as his arm burned. Gothi then grabbed the soup and held it to Draven's mouth where she ended up having to force feed it to him.

Gothi pulled back as Draven ripped his left arm from the leather straps and grabbed his wound. Everyone in the room gasped at what happened next. There was a strange and faint blue glow coming from the wound as it sealed itself up in a matter of seconds.

Draven's body went into another fit but soon subsided and his breathing began to slow. Feeling the worst was over, the nurses removed the remaining straps and bandaged his right arm, shoulder and chest.

The group left the room with Gothi gesturing Stoick and Gobber to follow her. Once outside the building, the chief and the smith asked Gothi what happened inside. Gothi began sketching in the ground to which Gobber translated "She says that Draven will be riding a moose into a mountain of gold." Gothi responded by swatting the smith over the head with her staff. Gobber corrected "She says she's not sure what's happening to the boy. He's obviously reacting to the Wraith's venom but what she finds strange is that he has neither turned into a Wraith nor died." Gothi sketched a few more symbols to which Stoick could read "We can only wait."

Little did the three know, Hiccup had entered the infirmary in search of her friend. She quickly found him and he in turn saw her. Draven saw her come close and sit by his left side and could see an obvious look of fear and sadness on her face. Draven tried to put on a weak smile and said in a shack voice "That...*cough*...went differently in my mind."

Hiccup let a small grin appear on her lips at her friends joke but quickly faded as she replied "Draven, I'm so sorry. This was my fault." Draven saw her eyes glisten and a tear roll down her cheek. He extended his hand for her cheek and replied "It wasn't...your fault. There was nothing...either of us could have done."

Hiccup's face lowered to which he raised her chin and said in a soothing voice "Don't...*cough*...worry about me. I'll be fine." Hiccup smiled again as she replied "Always the optimism with you." Draven laughed slightly and said "This island could do with a few."

Hiccup laughed a little at her friends comment. Even in the darkest of times did he find a light to push himself forward. "I'll leave you to rest then." she said in a reassured voice as she gave him a hug, a friendly kiss on his cheek and left the infirmary.

...

Two hours later

The sun had set now. The island was cloaied in night as everybody was with their families in their homes. All were morning the death of Draven's parents and the other 10 men lost that day at the docks.

All were resting from the day except for one. Draven's pain and sweating had not gone down in the slightest in the last two hours. If anything, it was getting worse. Fearing the worst, Draven forcefully pulled himself out of bed and hit the ground with an audible thud. He slowly began to crawl his way to the door and try find help. Draven feared he would die right here and right now with nobody at his side. He feared dying alone and just wanted somebody, anybody to be by his side. He wanted her by his side, to see her smile once more.

As he was half way to the door, his right arm went into a spasm and his veins that were bulged to the surface began to have a pale blue glow. Draven tried to scream but no sound came out. He tried to call for help but he couldn't speak. His mouth was wide open but no noise would come out and his entire body began to burn with pain far worse than anything he'd ever felt in his life.

Draven felt as though his whole body was set alight with a dozen swords stabbing into his body while being squeezed with a bladed chain. The worst pain of all was coming from the middle of his back, which felt like something was pushing outwards from within his own body.

If things weren't enough for the young viking, he started to secrete a blackish purple smoke. The smoke began to fill the entire room until it finally imploded into Draven. The young viking was finally able to make sound again and let out a spine chilling scream of terror as an explosion emanated from his body, blowing a hole in the infirmary wall and catch the undivided attention of the entire village.

Draven was curled up on the floor and could feel almost immediately that he was no longer in pain, yet at the same time he didn't feel normal. He got up to stand on his knees to gain his bearings. He looked to his hands and inhaled sharply when he gazed to his right hand. His skin had gain a luminous blue glow to it and their were several black armoured scales forming around his forearm, elbow, shoulder, bicep and backhand. He ran his left hand over it and it felt almost like dragon skin. Draven's eyes widened at a realisation that between the blue glow and the black armour, his hand looked like it belonged to a Wraith.

Two more things caught his attention. One: he felt as though a piece of himself was hanging off the top of his head. Feeling it, he could tell it was a single horn. Two: he could feel that his body had gained two extra appendages. Slowly turning his head over his shoulder, he could see that a set of two glowing wings had grown from his back.

Draven's mind didn't know what to think of his predicament. All he kept doing was staring and feeling his new features. "What's happening to me?" he whispered to himself in shock, confusion and fear. His mind was quickly pulled from its thoughts as he heard people outside coming towards the infirmary. What was strange was that he could hear exactly how many there were by the footsteps and he could even hear their breathing. Reacting on instinct that wasn't his own, he turned towards the hole in the wall and bolted.

Vikings burst into the room not ten seconds later lead by Stoick. The group examined the room and found no trace of Draven. All they found was a burn mark on the floor, a gaping hole in the wall and a blue light moving off towards the woods. "The Wraith must have come back to finish the job. AFTER IT!" the chief shouted in anger.

...

Draven was running far faster than he ever had before. He could feel as though his bones were harder, his muscles were stronger, his reflexes were quicker and his senses were heightened. He could smell, hear, see and even taste EVERYTHING.

He eventually stumbled and fell into a canyon with a large lake in it. Recovering from the fall, he realised he was in the cove. Feeling fatigued from the sprint, he slowly crawled towards the water, bracing himself for what he might see.

He reached the lakes edge and with the light of the moon, he could see what he now looked like. His eyes had changed from white eyeballs with brown irises to black eyeballs and glowing crimson irises. The horn on his head was growing on the left side and had a small armoured plate extending down the left side of his head. He could also see that the veins on the right side of his neck and chest were blackened as they lead into his now changed right arm.

Draven slowly leaned back from the water and put his arms around himself as he broke down. With tears freely flowing he weakly said to himself "No no no no. This can't be happening. This can't be happening."

Draven remembered the days events once more. He had spent half the day fishing with his dad which he enjoyed as they could spend time together but ended with him shouting at his father. He watched both his parents die and never had a chance to tell them how much he loved them. He was attacked by the Wraith and morphed into an indescribable abomination, and he never even told Hiccup how he had begun to feel for her in recent weeks.

He clenched his fists tight and screamed to the sky. "AAAHHHHHHH!" he screamed as he swiped his right arm through the air and discharged a plasma bolt that shot into the night sky and illuminated the cove.

The young viking simply fell onto his side and curled up in his wings as the tears flowed. All he wanted to do was to wake up from this nightmare. To wake up in his bed and realise that all was still right with the world. If only life were that generous.

His attention was pulled to the woods in the direction of the village as he heard the angry shouting of a hunting party. Draven pulled himself to his feet and slowly backed away in the other direction. "Not like this." he muttered as he opened his underdeveloped wings. "Not like this." he repeated as he turned around and with one powerful thrust, shot out of the cove and into the treeline. Draven ran while also beating his wings as hard as he could, going deeper into the woods as the last thing he wanted was to be seen like this and put down like an animal.

He ran and ran, quickly outpacing the hunting party but stopped when he came upon the area he and Hiccup were playing in earlier. He enjoyed those moments with her. He liked how energetic she was and how she saw the world. Most of all, he liked that radiant smile of hers as well as her friendly laugh. She was his closest friend for five years and there was nobody else like her on the island. He liked her. He couldn't bring himself to run further from the village without seeing her face one last time.

He turned his head over his shoulder and decided on what to do. He ran back to the clearing in the trees where his hidden tunnel was and made his way back to the village, avoiding the hunting party.

...

Draven followed his tunnel network straight to its end where it came out the side of the cliff right behind the Haddock household. He looked up the cliff side and began his climb. Under normal circumstances, climbing a bare cliff side would be next to impossible but with his new strength of was a singe for him.

He reached the top in a matter of seconds and was surprised by how much he was taking to his new talents. 'TALENTS' he thought to himself in anger. 'Is that what I think of this monster I've become. TALENTS.' Draven couldn't describe it. He liked his new found strength and speed. The strength and speed of a demon. He was disgusted with himself.

He looked towards Hiccup's home and pushed those thoughts aside. As he approached the house, he caught a scent in the air. It smelled like a mix between something sweet and the refreshing sea breeze. It was Hiccup's scent and it was intoxicating to him. 'No wonder the Wraith went towards her.' he thought.

Draven snuck up on the house and creped up along the wall where Hiccup's skylight was. He carefully climbed the wall and peered inside to see Hiccup's sleeping form. Quietly, he climbed into her room and slowly walked towards the side of her bed.

'What am I doing?' Draven thought to himself.'Why do I have this uncontrollable urge just to simply see her?' It didn't take long for him to figure it out. Eleven years old for a human is still a child but eleven years old for a dragon is all almost fully matured. His dragon side was not only affecting him physically but emotionally and mentally as well.

He knelt by Hiccup's side and stared at her face. She was his best friend and his liking towards her was now beginning to manifest into something deeper. He looked down with a sigh and thought out loud "Hiccup. I wish things weren't so complicated right now. I don't know why the gods have done this to me."

A tear rolled down his face as he looked back up to her sleeping state and continued "I'm going to be leaving for some time. I have to find a way to fix myself and I cannot do it here, but I promise I will come back one day." He extended his right hand and gently pressed it on her cheek, "I promise I will be back for you. Goodbye."

Draven did more than simply touch her cheek. He imprinted on her. He knew that she will undoubtedly be upset to here that he will be gone, but with his imprint, she will still feel a comfort that Draven is still alive and somewhere in the world.

With that, he pulled his hand back, quietly exited through her skylight and returned to the cliff side tunnel.

...

Several hours had passed as Draven slowly wondered his tunnels. The hunting party had long since lost his trail and had returned to the village. Eventually he reached the end of the tunnel network on the far side of the island by a beach.

On the beach, he noticed a dim light appear on the horizon and knew the sun would be rising soon. He also noticed a wrecked boat on the beach. He approached the boat and upon closer inspection could at least tell that the hull was intact and its sail system still worked. It just needed to get back in the water.

"This will do." he said to himself. He wouldn't bother trying to fly out for Tow reasons. One: he still had to learn to use his wings efficiently. Two: Wraiths hate sunlight and he figured that would carry over to him as well and with sunrise an hour away, flying was out of the question.

He prepared to push the boat to the water with his new strength but as he began to push, he heard what sounded like crying coming from a nearby cave. Curious, he approached the cave to inspect the origin of the crying.

As he entered the cave, he noticed a dead dragon behind a large boulder. Judging by the size, shape, purple colour and spines, he could tell it was an adult Skrill. It's wings were shredded and it was covered in deep scars and gashes. The crying was coming from behind it. He cautiously circled the Dragon to find a purple baby female Skrill that couldn't have been more that a few weeks old standing by the adults head. "Mama." the baby Skrill cried in a weak shaky voice.

It didn't surprise Draven that he could hear what the dragon was saying. After all, he was half one himself now.

The baby Skrill noticed a glowing blue light moving around the cave and turned to see something she had never seen before. She saw what appeared to be some half human half Wraith creature. She slowly turned to face him while backing away slightly. "What...Who are you? Please don't hurt me." she said in a frightened tone.

Draven slowly walked closer to the baby with his hands raised in a friendly gesture. "I won't little one. I'm not here to hurt anyone. What happened here?" he said as he closed the distance between the two and crouched a meter from her.

The baby replied weakly "Mama and I were sleeping when we woke up to the sound of another dragon. She told me to hide when she went outside. I heard shouting and screaming. It was a Wraith. It...did this."

The Wraith. Those two words kept one repeating themselves in Draven's head and he slowly balled his fists as he gazed to his right arm. Not only had it destroyed his life, but the life of an innocent baby Skrill.

The baby looked up to Draven's face and asked "Who are you. You are both human and Wraith. Two things that mama said were dangerous, yet you seem friendly."

Draven looked back to the Skrill and replied "I think the same Wraith that attacked your mother was the one that did this to me. It killed both my parents and tried to turn me into a Wraith. It failed, somewhat, but has left me no choice but to leave my people."

Draven looked back outside to the boat and then back to the Skrill. He knew that with her mother gone, she would barely last a week. He couldn't leave her. "Young one. I'm sorry about your mother but you cannot stay here. Vikings might find you. If you come with me, I promise to keep you safe." he said as he extended his hand towards the baby trying to be as friendly and as harmless as possible.

As much as the Skrill wanted to stay in the cave with her mother and that the cave was the only home she knew, he was right. However, she still didn't know what to think of him. He was part human and part Wraith. He was two things she was taught to avoid due to the dangers of both, yet the pheromones he was giving off indicated that he was of no threat to her at all. He was an ordinary boy who lost his family to the Wraith and hated it just as much as she did. He was friendly. He was like her.

She slowly walked towards his extended hand, giving it a sniff and finally leaning into it. Draven almost immediately felt a connection between himself and the Skrill. Both had lost everything and had no home. When he looked into her eyes, he saw himself. They bonded.

The Skrill got closer to Draven and rubbed herself along his side. He responded by gently picking her up and making his way to the boat. "Goodbye mama. I love you." the dragon said as she gave one last look into the cave.

Draven reached the boat and put the dragon inside. He then made his way to the back and pushed it into the water as hard as he could in order to give it the momentum it needed to get past the waves.

Draven jumped in once he felt the boat would break past the waves and began to examine his supplies. The boat was clearly large enough for the two of them and even had a lower deck. It also had a fishing net and a small canvas that was raised into a tent for some shade for anyone who was on the main deck.

He gave one last look to Berk before exhaling and taking a seat under the cover canvas. The Skrill walked up next to him and cuddled by his side. "What's your name mister?" the dragon asked. She knew that human gave each other names. "Draven. Draven Mothlyn. What's yours?" Dragons didn't often have names. They would sometimes but mostly they just called each other by their breed. "Violet." the dragon said. "Mama named me Violet."

Draven smiled as he learned the name of his new friend. "Well Violet, I promised a friend of mine that I would one day return to this island, but for now, it's you and me against the world."

...

The sun was rising over the island of Berk. Hiccup's eyes slowly opened to the morning sunlight creeping through her skylight. As she sat up in bed, her cheek felt warm. She ran her hand along it and felt a comforting sensation she couldn't describe. The best way she could describe it would be the feeling of knowing that even if you feel alone, someone will look out for you.

Not knowing what it was, she climbed out of bed, got dressed and made her way downstairs. When she got downstairs however, she saw her father sitting on his chair staring into the fire. "Morning dad." she chirped with a radiant smile of the comfort she felt. When she looked into his eyes, she saw sorrow. "What is it?" she asked curiously.

Stoick looked to his daughter and immediately felt a sting in his heart at the news he had to tell her. He inhaled and began "Hiccup. Last night not long after you went to sleep, there was an incident. The Wraith that attacked us yesterday came back during the night and found where your friend Draven was recovering."

Hiccup's eyes slowly began to widen as she stood frozen by the fire. Stoick continued with a heavy heart "We began to hear a loud scream come from the infirmary. We raced to Draven's room and found nothing. All we saw were burn marks around the room and a Wraith running away from the infirmary and towards the forest. We think it was running because it may have been injured and couldn't fly."

Hiccup's legs felt weak as she dropped down onto the bench next to the fireplace. Stoick moved over to his daughter and pulled her into a hug as he finished "I'm so sorry Hiccup. Draven is gone."

Hiccup began to think about everything she just heard. She pulled herself away from her father and got up from the bench. When Stoick looked in her eyes, he was expecting to see tear laced eyes of sadness. He didn't. Her eyes were still wide with shock but she wasn't breaking down like he had expected her to.

She slowly turned towards the door and made her way outside. She walked through the village with everyone giving her a wide berth. People of the village felt bad for her. Yes some people ignored her while others talked down to her but they knew that Draven was her closest friend. Nobody gave her sideways glares or harsh comments as she walked. They were being sympathetic towards her. She walked all the way to the forge where she went into the study Gobber had recently given to her and Draven and sat on her chair.

Gobber arrived in the forge not long after also expecting to see Hiccup curled up somewhere crying. Instead, he found he in her study working. She had her sketchbook and her charcoal pencil out and was working on different ideas she had to help the village.

Hiccup could see Gobber's expression out the corner of her eye and knew what he was going to say. Just as he opened his mouth, she firmly said first "He's not dead."

Gobber took a step towards her and gently said "Hiccup, please. We can't find him. We can only guess that..."

"HE'S NOT DEAD!" she shouted. Gobber was taken aback by this. He never guessed Hiccup as the kind who would raise her voice. She was always the kind, gentle, smart, well mannered, open minded person that was his apprentice and the daughter of the chief. He would never have taken her as the type to shout. He backed away from her with a sigh thinking she just needed some time and said "Okay. I'll leave you to yer' work."

As he left, Hiccup touched her left cheek again and felt that warm feeling again. She said to herself one last time "Draven's not dead."

* * *

><p>As I said at the beginning, the first two chapters will focus heavily on Draven. Chapter three will be the dragon raid and when Hiccup shoots Toothless down.<p>

Let me know what you guys think.


	2. Chapter 2: Coming back home

Note that this chapter has a hell of a lot of time jumps (one chapter that spans five years), so just bare with me. I did this so I could get Draven back to Berk and start with the dragon raid with toothless in chapter three.

...

Three months later

Draven and Violet had travelled North East through the ocean. He had fashioned himself a white long sleeve tunic as well as a fur cape to conceal his right arm and wings. There was nothing he could do about covering his horn and left face plate but luckily those didn't seem to burn while in sunlight. Draven rarely ever made landfall and kept the main land to his starboard (right) side. He kept himself and the Skrill fed with a plentiful supply of fish with the help of the net he had and just continued on through the vast ocean of the world.

Violet never really questioned where they were going or what Draven's plans were. She liked his company and he always made sure she was fed. He'd even reduce his own share of fish for her if their catch wasn't very large. Draven didn't mind seeing as she had a much higher metabolism than he did and so she needed all the fish she could get.

They continued on like this since they left Berk and the ocean was relatively calm despite the occasional swell. Things were fine until one fateful day. The sky began to blacken and massive storm clouds began to swirl. The ocean swells grew larger and the wind began to blow at unholy speeds. It was a hurricane.

"Violet, get below deck." Draven shouted as he tried to steer his tiny fishing boat through the maze of gargantuan waves. Violet quickly did so just as one wave hit their side and sprayed freezing water on them both. Unfortunately, try as he might, Draven could not find a way through the storm. This was truly made evident when he came face to face with a 60 foot wave that capsized his boat.

...

He was flying through the clouds. He soared high above the world without a care in the world, taking in the warm sun and the cool breeze. He looked to his left and saw thousands of vikings with weapons preparing for war. He looked to his right and saw thousands of dragons readying for a fight. This was the world he was all too familiar with. This was a world he didn't want to be apart of.

Both armies disappeared and he was alone again, until he looked to his own body and instead of seeing himself, he saw a fully evolved Wraith. His breathing began to quicken until he looked straight ahead and saw a pair of emerald green eyes, auburn hair and a radiant smile. It was Hiccup. He looked back to himself and saw something different. It wasn't a Wraith or himself, but what seemed to be a near perfect mix of the two.

His dream began to turn to memory and he saw every event in every detail that fateful day three months earlier. Right up until the Wraith began to infect him.

...

Draven's eyes shot open and he hastily pulled his upper body up from lying down. He had a mild sweat and was breathing heavily. Once he realised it was only a dream and began to calm down, he examined the room he was in. He was lying in several layers of thick blankets on the floor and the room was made of a smooth polished woods. The walls were made up of a crisscross of thin wooden beams with what seemed to have parchment filling the square holes. He looked to his side and saw his boots, tunic and cape neatly folded for him.

He climbed out of the bed, got dressed and made his way to the door. As he opened the door which seemed to be on a slide, he let his eyes adjust to the sunlight and look upon a village in a seemingly never ending mountainous region.

He looked around to the people and saw that everyone seemed to be happy. He saw other children playing in the dirt pathways as well as adults smiling, laughing and chatting as they went about their business. One could say is was unfamiliar to him, seeing as viking life in the island of Berk was anyting but happy. The villagers looked like normal people but he did notice a few differences to them. The look he gave them regarding their appearance, they returned regarding his. They also wore different clothes. More vibrant in colour and made of an array of silks and cottons.

Draven then noticed two of the villagers come up the small hill towards him. One looked like he was in his late teens to early twenties whilst the other was bald and must have been the village elder. The younger man began speaking with a wide smile but it was in a language Draven couldn't understand.

The young viking didn't know what they said or what to make of it and slowly began to back away in the opposite direction. However just as he took two steps, he heard another person behind him speak in Norse. His own language. "They said 'Hello traveller. Good to see you are awake.'"

Draven turned to see a viking trader with blonde hair and a blonde beard. He too was dresses in an array of different fabrics ranging from silks to cottons to leathers to furs. "Trader Gert at your service." he said with a bow.

"Where am I? How'd I get here?" was the only thing to come out of Draven's mouth as he looked around at the village. Trader Gert replied with his usual friendly smile "You are in a far away land called Japan. We found you shipwrecked on the beach from that hurricane. What brings you this far away from the Archipelago if I may ask?"

Draven looked down to his gloved right hand and plainly replied "It's complicated. To cut it short, a Wraith dragon did this to me and I was forced to leave my home." Draven's eyes then grew wide as he inhaled sharply and asked "The last thing I remember was my boat capsizing. There was a dragon on board with me, a Skrill. Is she okay?"

Trader Gert turned to the two other men and translated everything Draven had said, from the Wraith to the Skrill. The elder man said something to Gert to which he translated "He says your dragon companion is fine. She's currently resting in the stable. He also says that if you are seeking something on your journey, you are to travel up the mountain to its highest cave. There you will find what you seek."

Draven looked up the mountain closest to the village and looked back to the two men. He asked them "If you don't mind me asking, you seem to be very comfortable with a dragon and I in your village. How come?" Gert translated and the two men replied to which Gert said to Draven "The people here in this land don't fight dragons as vikings do. The people here worship them and treat them with respect."

The young viking looked back to the two other men and said with a smile and a bow of his head "Thank you." The two men smiled and bowed back as they continued on with their business. Trader Gert then said to the eleven year old "I live in this village. If you need me for language translation you can find me here. Oh, and the stable is at the bottom of the hill."

Draven saw the stable at the base of the village where there were farms that looked like they were underwater. "Thank you Gert." he said as he made his way to the stable.

...

Draven made his way down to the stable taking in the sights of the village. He would occasionally see a dragon he'd never seen before fly overhead and not give the village a second thought. He also saw some buildings were decorated with dragon carvings and statues. The difference between these decorations and the ones back in Berk is that the ones in Berk were just the dragon heads to show how they killed dragons for sport. The statues here in this village had a more divine look to them.

He eventually reached the stable and entered to find Violet curled up in the hay with a boy and a girl around his age playing inside. Violet was awake and she was inquisitively eyeing the two children.

Violet had grown substantially in the past three months with all the fish Draven had fed her. She had grown from the size of a medium sized dog to an average sized pony. She had learned to fly but not for long periods of time and she was also learning to harness lightning from storms. She did so by practicing in light storms she and Draven faced while on their travels.

"Well look who decided to wake up. By the way, that's the last time we travel by boat." she gloated to her viking friend. Draven shook his head with a small smile as he approached her and gave her a scratch under the jaw.

The two children saw Draven pet his dragon and the boy came to greet him. "Hello. Nice meet you." he spoke in Norse with a toothy grin. "You speak my language?" Draven asked with wide eyes. The boy nodded and replied "Little. We understand, have trouble speak. Me Isamu. This friend, Asuka." while gesturing to himself and his female friend.

Draven was reminded of himself and Hiccup in a way when he saw these two laughing and playing together. "Nice to meet you Isamu, my name is Draven. Thank you for your village helping us."

Asuka who was standing next to Isamu looked down to Violet and said "We see dragon good. Dragon is strength. She dragon, you dragon. We see good blessing."

Draven pondered on that for a moment. All his life he struggled to gain the approval of his own people and they would no doubt have killed him had they seen his semi-transformed state. Now he meets complete strangers from another land who take him in as one of their own and see him as a blessing.

He smiled at the thought as he asked Isamu "Your village elder said 'I can find what I'm looking for on the mountain'. What's up there?" Isamu's expression went blank as he replied "Ryuu. Dragon queen."

Draven let those two words repeat themselves in his head a few times as he walked to the stable window and gazed to the mountain peak. "Careful you go there. Dragons good, but Ryuu like be alone." Isamu said as he walked up next to Draven. "Thank you Isamu." the viking said as he continued to look outside.

Isamu and Asuka continued on with their games as Draven heard Violet say "I know that look. I don't even have to see your face and I know that look. You're going up there aren't you?"

Draven looked his dragon friend in the eyes and replied "Why did this happen to me? Why did we meet? Why did I take the north eastern route from Berk and why did we end up here? I have to believe that I we winded up in this village for a reason. I think the answer for that reason lies atop that mountain."

Violet got up and walked over to him with her pupils widening. "Just be careful. You're the only friend I have." she asked worryingly. Draven responded by scratching her jaw again and reassuringly replied "Don't worry. I didn't travel three months at sea just to die on some new land. I'll be fine."

...

Draven had climbed the mountain to its highest point where he found a large cave with a lake inside it. The climb was made almost effortless with the use of his wings which he'd use if a dense cloud blocked the sun or his new strength allowing him to jump greater distances. The cave was very tranquil and the water was crystal clear.

As Draven made his way deeper into the cave, he heard a female voice in his head say "Ah, a visitor. Strange, you are human and yet you are not. You are Wraith and yet you are not. You are a hybrid. What brings you here child?" The voice was calm and held authority to it. Draven's eyes searched the cave left and right to find the source of the voice. "I'm actually not sure." Draven stated.

The water began to ripple and the dragon emerged a moment later. She was around fifty meters long but only about two meters wide with only for legs. She was gold in colour with a long pointy snout and had antlers on her head instead of horns. She approached the young viking and gave him a sniff. "I see. You seek not only answers but questions as well. Judging by what i can see in your heart, you wish to know why you have become like this."

Draven nodded as he asked "Yes. Everything I know about dragons tells me that I shouldn't be here today. I should have either been killed or turned into a Wraith but neither happened. Instead I became...this. I need to know why and if there's a way I can fix it."

"You can't 'fix it' child. Wraith venom is irreversible." she said. Draven's heart stung as he looked down with a long exhale. She nudged him with her snout to comfort him and said "Everything in this world happens for a reason child. Fate wouldn't have done this to you had it not had plans for you."

Draven looked her in the eyes and said in an irritated voice "What, for me to spend my days looking like some monster." Ryuu knew he was referring to his semi changed state and not dragons and she could sense the unbalanced conflict in his heart.

"I believe everything in this world needs a balance. Good, evil, darkness, light, both need to balance for the world to work. I sense the conflict raging within you." she said as she circled him. "You fight you new form so much that it blinds you to your destiny. You need to accept who you are and accept what becomes of your life. Be more than just a human or a Wraith. Be the best you can be with the strengths of both."

Draven removed his glove on his right hand and stared at the blue glow. He thought about what she said for a moment before remembering his dream. He remembered seeing the blended form of human and Wraith. He thought about the behaviours of normal dragons to Wraiths and how normal dragons were inherently peaceful creatures. The Skrill, the dragons around the village and Ryuu were all proof of that. All except the Wraith which he remembered speak to him. "Impressive. You are resourceful child, I'll give you that. You will make a fine addition to our numbers." he remembered the dark deep voice say in his head. Wraiths always travelled the world and increased their numbers by destroying lives and turning people into monsters. It was something that sickened Draven and was made more sickening by the idea that the Wraith will return to Berk again one day.

"If I'm stuck with this for the rest of my life." Draven said as he began to clench his fist, "Then I guess I should embrace it." His hand and arm Behan to glow more brightly as he groaned. In a few seconds, Ryuu saw Draven's one horn and wings begin to recede into his body. Slowly, he was willing himself to allow his Wraith side to spread through his body and by extension balance his inner conflict.

In a few moments, Draven's horn and wings were gone but his arm was still in a morphed state. On the inside however, he could feel different. He could still feel the power of his Wraith side waiting within. "Well that didn't take long for you." Ryuu commented as she sensed Draven taking control of the Wraith infection. Draven looked up to the long dragon and said "I could always feel the power within me but I was afraid of what would have happened had I let it take its course and flow through me. I've been fighting it since that moment I first changed. Guess I just needed some motivation."

Draven decided to experiment. He looked to the power from within himself and willed it forward. His body began to secrete the black and purple smoke again that quickly began to engulf him. A few seconds later, the smoke cloud glowed from its center and quickly dispersed, revealing a new form of Draven's. His entire body glowed blue in areas of soft skin as well as black armoured scales covering other areas of him like parts of his back, chest, waist, forearms, biceps, thighs, calves, feet and backhands. His wings grew back slightly larger and had the same black armour running along its bones. Draven's face turned black as well but still retained its human softness rather than harden into scales. His eyes are still black with the irises glowing red. Lastly, he grew two silver coloured cone shaped horns that in turn grew the exo-skull around his crown, forehead, cheeks and the back of his head. He was a hybrid.

Then just as quickly as he turned into a hybrid, he changed back into a human. He was completely normal again but his right arm still maintaining a changed state and his eyes changed back to white eyeballs with red irises. "It would appear your dragon side has nested in your right arm. It don't think you'll ever be able to change it back." Ryuu said in mixed awe and compassion, thinking he'd be disheartened by his right arm. He wasn't. Draven had a small laugh at this new revelation. "What do you feel?" Ryuu asked. A small grin cracked on Draven's face as he replied "Power. I can feel stronger and yet I can still feel that I'm still myself."

"What do you plan to do now?" the serpent asked inquisitively. Draven looked towards the cave exit and into the clouds as he answered "When I'm ready; save my village and those dragons from destruction and put and end to that Wraith." The last part he said coldly as he faced Ryuu again.

Ryuu simply nodded and said "Do as you must. We dragons never want war but for your village's dragons to be attacking them, something must be causing it. As for the Wraith, you have my approval. Wraiths cannot be reasoned with and are even viewed by other dragons as monsters."

Draven smiled to the serpent dragon and bowed. "Thank you Ryuu. I know now what I must do." he said as he turned and left the cave.

...

As Draven stepped outside the cave, there was a dense cloud cover with signs that rain was coming. There was no sun in sight. 'No time like the present' Draven thought as he took a step towards the edge of the cliff and looked down. It took him two hours to climb the mountain. "Let's see how much I can cut that down." he said to himself as he took one final step into a free fall.

His ears could barely hear a thing as wind rushed by with the base of the mountain quickly approaching. As Draven was falling, he closed his eyes and let his dragon form out. In an instant, he was surrounded by the dark smoke again and he transformed.

He pulled his body up and extended his wings, reacting solely on natural instinct. He could feel his body shake from the sudden deceleration and began to glide down the mountain side. As he passed the cliff side and began flying over the treeline, he ducked into the branches and started weaving his way through the trees while maintaining a high speed.

As he flew into a clearing, he gave his wings a powerful thrust and shot out of the trees into a climb towards the clouds. Repeatedly he'd beat his wings as hard as he could, sending him higher and higher into the sky. He looked down to the land and to the horizon and began to feel a sensation wash over his body. It wasn't the cold or the brushing of the wind. It was peace. Here in the sky he could forget his troubles and be alone. Here in the sky, nobody else in the world existed. It was freedom.

Draven's shut his eyes as he savoured the moment. He just continuously beat his wings as he began to reach the top of the clouds. Draven hadn't noticed what he was doing from how entranced he was until his entire body began to burn. Opening his eyes, he saw that he had flown out of the cloud and into direct sunlight.

Draven reacted quickly opening his wings to slow himself down and folded his wings afterwards. This sent him back into the clouds in no time at all and the burning subsided. "Ugh that hurt." Draven muttered to himself as he dived deeper into the clouds.

He looked back down to the land and saw the village. A devilish smirk began to grow on his lips. He angled himself downwards into a high speed dive right for the village, giving off his luminous blue glow at the same time.

Everyone in the village saw the approaching flying object and struggled to make out what it was. Violet walked out of the stable and looked to the sky. She could immediately tell who it was. It had the features of a Wraith but was much smaller and differences.

Just as Draven was forty meters from the ground, he extended his wings again and pulled his body upwards, sending him over the village and back into the sky. Finally, he pulled himself backwards from the climb into a back flip and dove straight for the village center, landing on the ground with a loud thud.

The villagers stated in awe as Draven slowly stood up and reverted back into human form. All were speechless except for Violet who simply rolled her eyes and muttered "Show off."

...

Four years, three months later.

In the time that Draven and Violet had spent in the Japanese village, both had matured a great deal and had become near inseparable. Violet had grown near to full size and had become highly skilled at flying and powerful at harnessing lightning from storms or dense clouds.

Draven was now sixteen years old and had mastered a great deal ranging from improving on his own flying, getting stronger with his own powers, training in martial arts and sword fighting, and had even learned to speak Japanese himself. He was dressed mostly in black or dark blues. He wore black pants, dark fur boots, a dark blue tunic, and a black long length jacket with a hood. He had also gained a scar going over his left eye from a bandit attack on the village three years earlier.

Draven and Violet had also become a riding team. It was perfect for them, seeing as Draven couldn't fly during the day and the two operated better when they flew together. With his ability to absorb lightning like his Skrill companion, Violet could use her attack while Draven was riding her and he could still shot plasma bolts from his right arm. This was perfect for allowing them to engage two targets at the same time.

Between their offensive capabilities and the fact that they could communicate with each other fluently made them a flawless dragon riding team.

One day, the duo felt it was high time they had returned home. They had been planning this for quite some time now. They both had to return to Berk to save their people but Draven also had one other reason. He still had his promise to keep.

It was mid-spring when he and Violet preparing to leave. They got up early in the morning as the Skrill stretched her wings out for a long flight and Draven began packing supplies into Violet's saddle bags. Her saddle was made of durable black leathers and fabrics and had bright red stitching with a few dragon decals along its sides.

The village began to wake up not long after Draven did and began to pour into the street to say their farewells. One by one, each person either bowed or gave Draven a farewell hug. He eventually reached Isamu and Asuka who were now a couple. "Goodbye brother. We wish you the best of luck." Isamu said with a smile as the two have each other a goodbye hug. Asuka handed Draven a necklace with a jade ball on the end wrapped in transparent gold silk. "For luck, and something to remember us by." she said as she also gave him a hug.

Draven was then approached by the village elder who was also was also his mentor who trained him to fight. He handed Draven a katana he recently just finished as a farewell gift. Draven stared at the sheathed sword wide eyed as he took it and slowly unsheathed it. The blade was ebony rather than silver and was edged in razor diamond. The handle itself was jade and had a gold wrapping around it. "Thank you master." Draven said with a bow to which the elder placed a hand on Draven's shoulder and nodded in an approving smile. "You are ready." he said.

With farewells done, Draven strapped the sword to the side of Violet's saddle and mounted her. "Well girl, it's time we headed home." Draven said as he scratched her side. "Bout' time, though I'll miss this place." she said as she gave her home of four years one last look.

Violet and Draven then looked to the sky and with a powerful thrust, the Skrill shot into the vast aerial ocean and set course for the northern archipelago.

...

Three weeks later

"The island of Berk. Our old home." Draven said as he viewed the island through his spyglass. He and Violet were perched on a sea stack several miles out from Berk. "Feels odd being back here but I'm glad we are. I'm also guessing we can't just simply 'fly there'?" Violet curiously asked her rider.

Draven pulled his spyglass away and replied "For us to live there without worrying about being attacked, I'm going to need to mask my identity. Things will get complicated if we simply land in the village plaza and have me shout out 'Hi guys, its me Draven. Look I'm a half Wraith now. You don't mind if I live here again do you?'. I'm going to have to come up with a story that will allow me to live on the island without people looking twice. By extension I'll find a way to hide you."

"Any ideas?" Violet asked. Draven pulled out his notepad from Violet's saddle bag and answered "Well if my calculations were correct then... Ah right on schedule."

Draven looked out to sea and noticed trader Johan's ship that was headed to Berk. The hybrid dismounted and walked over to a nearby tree. He pulled out his sword and began to heat up his right hand. Draven heated up the blade and in one swift motion, sliced right through the tree brining it down.

"I plan to act as someone marooned at sea and in Johan's path so he could pick me up and give me a lift to the island. Once there, I lie my ass off to the chief and convince him to allow me to live there." Draven said as he hacked away the other end of the tree as well as the branches.

"As for my identity, that's what the mask in the saddle bag is for. I'll just tell them I have some disfiguring facial scars that sicken people and I wear the mask for their sake." he said as he finished chopping up his make shift debris. Violet let out a slight laugh at the identity story and said "Actually that isn't a lie, that's the truth."

She was referring to his changed eyes, blackened veins on the right side of his neck leading to he cheek and his scar going over his left eye. Draven simply rolled his eyes and sarcastically snapped back "Ha Ha, I forgot how to laugh. Now help me get this in the water."

Violet crawled over to the log to which Draven mounted her and she took the wood in her claws.

She carried the log and her rider to an area in the sea a few miles ahead of trader Johan. The Skrill dropped the log in the water and Draven followed. "Get back to the sea stack. I'll come get you tonight once I've found us a place to live." the hybrid said as he resurfaced and grabbed the log.

As he watched her climb back into the clouds, he turned himself in the direction of where trader Johan would be coming from. "And now comes the waiting." he muttered to himself.

...

One hour later

The people of Berk were flooding the dock as they watched trader Johan approach. They were all eager to see what strange treasures, weapons and wonders he brought with him this time.

However as the boat pulled in, they saw a hooded person jump put of the boat with a docking line and secured the boat. Once secured, the person walked towards the end of the pier and sat on the edge. He had to be somewhere in his mid-teens and wore a hooded long length jacket. He kept his hood up and he also wore a leather covered plated mask. He also had a weak self petty expression to his body.

Most people didn't think much of it as they began to sift through Johan's boat for thins of interest. The only one who took notice to the teenager was Stoick. He approached Johan and curiously asked "You're usually someone to travel alone trader Johan. Who's the boy?"

Johan looked to the teen and replied "Fished him out of the sea about a half hour ago. Not really the chatty type but he did say something about an altercation with pirates."

Stoick and walked towards the hooded teenager. "You alright there boy?" Stoick asked in a friendly manner. "Been better." the teen replied in a bland tone of voice.

Stoick leaned down to his side ad asked "Trader Johan tells me he found you in the sea and that you ran into pirates. What happened?" The teen slightly turned his head over to Stoick and answered "My family and friends I were wonderers. We traveled the sea exploring different lands. We ran across some pirates last night while we were anchored. Everyone was killed."

The teenager paused and Stoick could hear he was breathing heavily. He continued "All my friends and my entire family were killed in front of me. I only just escaped." Stoick was a generous chief and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and said "Well you're welcome to rest here for the time being."

The boy nodded and replied "Thank you." Stoick began to walk away but as he took his fifth step, he turned and curiously asked "If you don't mind me asking, what's with the mask?" The teen stood up and turned to the chief answering the question, "Let's just say that if you saw my face, you'd either throw up on the spot or get nightmares. I've picked up some scars in my time and I'm not yet ready to reveal them." Stoick simply nodded as he went about his business.

Feeling that he was gaining a foothold, Draven looked up the cliff side towards the village and began walking forwards towards the ramps.

...

Ten minutes later

Draven had wondered the lower parts of the village and was about a third the way to the top. He was gazing out to sea when he felt a presence approach him. "Taking in the sights I see?" Stoick cheerfully said as he saw Draven by the cliff side. "Hmm-hmm" Draven murmured as he turned around a looked around at the village again.

His attention was brought back to Stoick when the chief asked "I didn't catch your name by the way?" Draven had thought about how he'd get over this hurdle. "There's no point. The name my parents gave me meant 'traveler' and is somewhat irrelevant now that they are dead along with everything I ever knew. So for all intents and purposes, you can call me 'Hood'". Stoick raised an eyebrow at the teens story but shrugged and let it slide.

"I'm guessing you get a lot of dragons that come through here." Draven said gesturing to the buildings. "What makes you say that?" Stoick asked curiously. "I overheard some people mention how your village has been here for seven generations. Yet when I look at the buildings, I can see that half of them are still new. Hell they can't be more that a week old."

Stoick was impressed to say the least. "Aye, we've been fighting the devils ever since we first sailed here. They raid us for food every few weeks or so." he said as he walked up to Draven's side. "So what about you or yer' family. Did ya ever kill a dragon?" Stoick asked.

"No." Draven replied. "We learned that if you stick to small numbers or preferably be alone, then dragons tend to leave you that way. We weren't ever bothered just so long as we never antagonised them."

"Interesting, but that's not really an option for us here since they always steal our food and livestock. If we see a dragon, we kill it before it causes any trouble which it will." Stoick said as he put extra emphasis in the last three words. Draven could see not much had changed, but also decided it was time to take a chance with his question and plan.

"Chief, would it be alright if I stayed here on Berk?" he asked politely. Stoick pondered the question for a moment. "Of course." he answered. "But we currently don't have any room here in the village but there is a cottage is the woods if you find that alright."

Draven was hoping for this. The cottage in question was his old house secluded away in the woods. It would be the perfect hideout for he and Violet. "Might I see the cottage?" he asked, trying to sound as intrigued as possible.

"Aye, follow me." Stoick said as he gestured and turned around, Draven following close behind.

The two had made their way to the village plaza where the forge was located. As they stepped into the plaza, Draven's walked began to slow as he looked around. His mind began to flash back to that fateful day as he remembered and visualised every detail from where he attacked the Wraith to where it pinned him down all in crystal clarity. He was pulled from his thoughts as Stoick called out a name, "HICCUP."

Draven looked to the forge and saw his childhood friend emerge a few seconds later. Draven inhaled sharply at seeing her. His heart began to speed up and he felt a shiver run down his spine. She was fifteen now and had a slender yet curvy body. She still wore the same attire she did five years ago and her face was mesmerizing to look at with her flowing hair, emerald green eyes, and freckled face. Draven could only describe her with one word; beautiful.

Hiccup looked out to the plaza and saw the hooded masked teenager and wondered what his business could be. She noticed all the the materials his jacket were made from as well as how he was staring back at her. 'Who's he?' she thought to herself with growing curiosity.

Draven inhaled again deeply and exhaled as he prepared to walk over and say hello, but as he took one step however, he heard a voice he didn't want to hear that day. Even though his voice was different because he was older, Draven could still tell the voice belonged to Snotlout. "So this is the new guy everyone talking about." he gloated.

The arrogant teen approached Draven from behind and placed his hand on Draven's left shoulder. "Welcome to Berk. You look like you're in need of a good friend, I'm Snotlo..AAAHHH..." Snotlout was cut short as Draven grabbed Snotlout hand with his own dragon hand and clenched down whilst twisting. Snotlout was forced to the ground groaning as Draven said coldly "Don't. Touch. Me."

Hiccup saw this and strained to hold in a sly chuckle. She absolutely loathed her cousin who strange enough as of late, had taken to try hitting on Hiccup from time to time. He would prance around the village like he owned the place, so she couldn't help but enjoy seeing him brought down. Draven left Snotlout groaning on the floor and carried on towards the forge. "Hood, this is my daughter Hiccup. She's a smart girl and works down here at the forge. Hiccup, this is Hood. Trader Johan found him marooned at sea and brought him here. He needs a place to stay so could you show him to the old Mothlyn house."

"Sure thing." she replied as she hung up her apron. Stoick didn't give the job to anybody else on the count that he had matters of his own to attend to, and Hiccup knew the woods better than most.

As Hiccup was about to lead Draven or 'Hood' off, Stoick grabbed him by the shoulder and said in a stern tone of voice "I'm trusting you here Hood. Don't get any ideas when you two are in the woods." Hood looked up to the chief and sarcastically replied "What's an idea?" He shrugged the large hand off his shoulder and finished with a snicker "You won't have to worry chief. I'm not here to cause problems. I'm just looking for a place to stay." With that, Stoick nodded and Hiccup led 'Hood' off to his old home.

...

It was a mostly quiet walk from the village to the Mothlyn house. For every question Hiccup asked Draven, he'd counter with one of his lies that he was using to mask his true identity. Even though this was the only way for him not to be bothered while finding a way to stop the war, it stung in his heart to have to lie to Hiccup.

There was just one problem for him. When he was younger, he learned to tell if a person was lying or not. If he could see a liar's eyes, he'd see that they cannot maintain eye contact and keep trailing off. Draven's eyes were concealed by his mask but a lie will also show itself in how you speak. He would listen to how much a person will stutter or trip over their words. He'd also listed to how they'd delay their answers with things like 'like' or 'um'. The problem was that Draven had taught these techniques to Hiccup. Draven was a good liar but even he'd sometimes give himself away and he suspected that Hiccup was picking up on it.

Eventually they reached the Mothlyn house. It was the size of the average viking house on Berk but it did have weeds growing through the walls and floors as well as having several holes in the roof. It was run down.

"This is it." Hiccup said as they approached the door. Draven pushed the door open with some force with all the weeds behind it and stepped inside. He began to feel mixed comfort and sorrow upon seeing the inside of his old house which he hadn't seen in nearly five years. His mind trailed back to Hiccup and decided to at least try break the awkward silence between the two with some small talk. "So who lived here?" he curiously asked.

Hiccup took a step inside and looked around. Draven gazed into her emerald eyes and could see her mixed feelings. He could see mixed happiness at memories from the small smile that formed over her lips but also saw the feeling of loneliness. He could see by her body language that life hadn't been easy for her in his absence. He always looked out for her before all this had happened.

"An old childhood friend of mine and his parents." she answered. "What was he like?" Draven asked, wanting to know what Hiccup thought about him. Hiccup couldn't help but smile at the memories. "He was arrogant, impatient at times as well as having a knack for showing off." She answered. Draven felt slightly disheartened by her answer, but she continued "Yet he was also caring, supportive, smart, funny and quite the optimistic type. Sometimes he'd try imagine life living WITH dragons." Hiccup laughed slightly at the last statement, at how she remembered her friend always seeing the light when surrounded by darkness.

Draven remembered everything she mentioned and just wished he could reveal himself to her right now but he couldn't. He had to wait for the opportune moment. "Sounds like a good guy. What happened to him?" he asked. He wanted to know what she thought. He wanted to know if she believed he was still alive.

Hiccup turned to him and Draven immediately regretted asking her that from the sorrow he could see in her eyes. She answered "Five years ago, there was a dragon attack. My friend tried to warn everybody but they wouldn't listen so when the Wraith arrived, we were unprepared. The Wraith killed both my friends parents and wounded him while he was trying to save me."

Draven pondered the last thing Hiccup said and quietly thought to himself 'Only because you were worth every second of it.' She continued "He disappeared later that night. My father and everyone believes the Wraith came back to finish the job."

This was the moment of truth for Draven. The moment he'd find out if she still believed he was alive. He took a step towards her and asked "You sound objective over their conclusion. What do you believe?"

"I don't believe he's dead. If the Wraith came back, then why just attack him and not us. Why did it run away and not fly away like it did earlier that day. I don't know what happened to my friend but I don't believe he's gone." Hiccup said with firm belief until she noticed how Hood was staring at her, even though he wore a mask. "Sorry, I'm babbling." Hiccup said shyly.

"Don't be. I know that feeling. To be alone but feel that someone is at least watching over you." Draven comfortingly said. "Yeah." Hiccup murmured. She then looked outside and said "I should be getting back, I've got some things to do in the forge."

She turned and left the house but as she was a few meters out the door, she turned back and said "By the way, that story about being attacked by pirates and living as an explorer. I know its a lie. My friend also taught me how to tell if a person lies and I know you are."

Feeling partially defeated, Draven stepped outside his door and reassuringly replied "You're right. I made it up, but I'm still not here to cause problems for the people of Berk. I will say that I do keep secretes of my own and I do have a reason for being here on this island, but it is not yet time for me to reveal either. Just know that I am no threat to you or anyone else here."

Hiccup chuckled slightly and said "Don't worry. I usually have a good judge of character and I believe you when you say you aren't here to cause problems and I really couldn't care less what you're here for. I just thought I'd tell you that I saw past your story." She turned and began walking back towards the village as she finished "See you around Hood."

Draven couldn't help but smirk under his mark as he watched her leave. He was impressed to say the least with how much she had matured over the last five years and with how quickly she saw past his lies. Mainly, he was just glad that his imprint he left on her the day he left was still there, and how she still believed he was alive.

...

After sunset

In the hours that passed since Draven arrived on Berk, he had already cleared most of the vegetation throughout his house and had picked up supplies from Gobber to repair the roof and walls.

When it was late enough, he stepped outside his home and looked around for any signs of people. Vacancy comes to mind as he was indeed alone and didn't need his mask anymore.

With a discharge of black and purple smoke, he was a hybrid once more and bolted into the sky to fetch Violet.

He kept a wide berth around Berk as not to alert them of a Wraith in the area or arouse suspension.

Once he was clear, he set course for the sea stack Violet was at and reached her within ten minutes.

"Sooo how did it go?" Violet asked inquisitively as her rider landed. "Easier than expected. We got ourselves a home." Draven answered as he reverted back to human form.

"Not that, I never had a doubt you'd get past them. I mean how was it meeting Hiccup again lover boy?" Violet replied with a sly grin. Draven ignored her remark and came clean, "It was...difficult. Lying and hiding from her like that was...wrong."

He walked up next to Violet and continued "On the upside, I know she's still under the influence of my imprint five years ago. She's the only one who believes I'm still alive and somewhere in the world."

Draven mounted his Skrill companion and gave her a scratch behind her frail, making her give off a loud purr. "Let's go home." The hybrid said as he tugged on the saddle's rails. Violet opened her wings and took to the night sky, glad that she'd come back to her island of birth.

...

One month later (mostly from the villagers perspective)

Hiccup and Hood had become good friends as the weeks past. He was still a rather reclusive person and never talked much about his past or talked much in general for that matter. Hood also quickly developed a reputation for having a disliking for Snotlout and the twins for an unknown reason. He'd never give a direct answer so nobody bothered to ask.

It was a late summers day with the sun just about to duck beneath the ocean. All was well in the village until a viking on one of the watchtowers shouted to the village "DRAGON ATTACK!"

People from all around the village began to stir around as they readied their weapons for the attack. Little did the people of the Hairy Hooligan tribe know, they were being watched by someone who was hanging off the side of the main mountain gazing down to them.

"You sure about this?" Violet asked as she hung of the side of the mountain next to her rider. Draven readied himself to change as he replied "Well until we find our opportunity to stop the fighting, this is the best I can think of. We'll just intervene in the raids and limit casualties wherever we can."

With one final inhale and exhale, Draven let got of the cliff side and began his rapid decent down the snowy mountain.

Meanwhile down in the village, Stoick was rallying a group of men to stay by his side and attack the larger groups of dragons that landed. "Spitelout, take a group and get to the West catapult and see of you can drive them down to us." His cousin nodded and ordered several other vikings to follow him.

Just as they began to move off and most of the village was ready for the first wave of dragons, one viking by Stoick's side shouted out "INCOMING!" as two Monstrous Nightmares and three Nadders came charging down to Stoick's group.

"FORM RANKS!" Stoick shouted as the five dragons prepared to fire. However just as they were about to try burn the group of vikings, a plasma bolt of unknown origin fired and detonated in the center of the dragon pack, splitting them up.

Stoick and his men ducked behind their shields for cover from the blast, and as they looked back up, a luminous glowing blue winged figure flew past them and tackled the dragons in mid air. "WRAITH!" one viking shouted.

Everyone looked at the new addition to the battle and could clearly tell it was like a Wraith, except it was much smaller and much quicker. The Wraith may have tackled one of the Nightmares but only hard enough to push him away from the groups of vikings with spears. Not hard enough to bring it to the ground.

The Wraith then flew away from Stoick's group and began its separating method all around the village. Separating the dragon groups with a plasma bolt and tackling the lead dragon. Soon, a Skrill joined in on the fight and followed the Wraith's lead, though the Skrill did keep a higher altitude to stay out of range from the Vikings and their weapons.

Gobber looked out the window of the forge and said to himself in awe and confusion "Someone slap me, cause it looks as though a Wraith and a Skrill are stopping those dragons from attacking us."

Hiccup who was busy sharpening swords took note of what Gobber said and came over to the window to have a look herself. He was right. Every dragon that tried to grab the livestock or kill a viking, the Wraith and Skrill were intervening.

The fight continued on like this for about a minute with the Dragons going into disarray and not killing many vikings. Eventually with the sky a mess with Gronckles, Nadders, Zipplebacks and Nightmares, Spitelout ordered the catapult to fire and land a direct hit on a Gronckle which plummeted towards Stoick's group.

The Gronckle landed hard and the viking group immediately began to move in to finish the job. However just as they were about to run the dragon through, the Wraith appeared seemingly out of nowhere above the Gronckle and gave a blinding flash in front of the viking group. The flash was long enough for the Gronckle to get away, to which the Wraith soon did the same. "What is that beast doing?" one viking shouted in utter confusion.

The raid carried on like this for its whole duration. The Wraith would continuously intervene and try and stop dragon from killing viking or viking from killing dragon. But of course the Wraith couldn't be everywhere at once. Vikings and Dragons alike were still killing each other around the village and in the end, the dragons still got away with a quarter of the sheep herd.

Draven and Violet took one more pass over the village with the dragons leaving and looked down to see a few dead vikings and dragons (mostly dragons) in the streets. "Damn it." Draven angrily muttered to himself but he knew this would happen. All he could do was limit casualties. "Well at least they didn't destroy each other entirely." Violet commented.

Draven didn't reply as he looked down to the forge and saw a Nadder sneaking up on it. "Oh no you don't." Draven said as he darted for the Nadder.

Stoick was getting the situational reports from his men when he too noticed something creeping up on the forge with his best friend and his daughter inside. "GOBBER, HICCUP, GET OUT!" the chief barked but was too late for the two smiths to react as the Nadder prepared to fire its magnesium flame.

However just as it fired, The Wraith hit the ground and used itself to block the Nadder's flame. Stoick, Gobber, Hiccup and the group watched in pure shock and confusion as to why this beast from hell was protecting the forge and its occupants. After six seconds of sustained flame, the Nadder ran out of fire and looked to the Wraith questionably. They couldn't make out too many of the Wraith's details due to either the bright glow it was giving off, or the fact that it kept its body obscured from the vikings with its wings.

What happened next left all the vikings gob smacked. The Wraith lowered its arms from its head and retracted its wings as it groaned and muttered in a deep voice "Alright then." It raised one of its hands to the sky and ripped a lightning bolt from one of the denser clouds and struck it just in front of the Nadder, scaring it off.

The Wraith then proceeded to retreat as well with the Skrill in toe, leaving everyone speechless.

...

Later in the great hall

The hall was abuzz with activity. Everyone in the village was still trying to process what had just transpired.

"What was that thing?"

"It was stopping the other dragons!?

"Did ya see the speed of it?"

"It saved my boy!"

"It kept me from killing a Zippleback!"

"I thought I heard it speak!"

"I thought I saw it holding a sword at some point. I heard this metallical humming sound of a blade swinging while it was grounded and something in its hand. Cut my axe clean in two."

These were all the remarks and comments going back and forth in the hall. Nobody had ever seen a Wraith behave like that before. A Wraith was known for its ruthlessness in killing and always turning somebody into another Wraith. They were NOT know for stopping people from killing each other, saving people, or traveling with Skrill companions.

"ENOUGH!" Stoick bellowed. "I don't care what it was doing or what it wants. Do I need to remind you what happened last time we had a Wraith in our village. We lost a dozen men and women and my daughter lost her closest friend. That beast is a demon like every other dragon and I'll be treated as such." Nobody bothered to argue. They all trusted Stoick as he had never steered them wrong, and they also remembered how the last Wraith incident led to the deaths of many friends, husbands, wives, sons, and daughters, and the obliteration of the Mothlyn clan.

As far as most of them were concerned, the Wraith was just another dragon to be killed. Some like Hiccup thought otherwise. Kept replaying in her head how the Wraith got in the way to stop the Nadder's flame from reaching she and Gobber. 'It saved us.' she quietly thought to herself.


	3. Chapter 3: Dragon attack

Several months later

It was early one Autumn morning just before the sun was about to come up. Everyone in the village began to stir awake to the sound of livestock moaning and rustling in the sheep and yak fields.

When Hiccup awoke to the noise, she jumped out of bed and ran for the door, knowing what was happening. Just as she opened the door, she was greeted with a Monstrous Nightmare that sent a fireball in her direction. She immediately slammed the door shut to hide from the fire as she said to herself "Dragons." Once the fire stopped sleeping through the gaps in the door, she exited her house and ran for the forge.

The whole village was abuzz with vikings bursting out of their homes with swords, axes, hammers and spears in hand. Hiccup ran and weaved her way from her house, down the hill, through the village as she made her way to the forge.

"Mornin' Hiccup." "What are you doing here?" "Get inside!" some vikings were saying or shouting to her as she ran past them.

Hiccup maneuvered her way past the mass of vikings and dragons with fire raining from the night sky until she turned one corner and walked face first into her dad.

"Hiccup?! What is she doing out aga-?! What are you doing out?! Get inside!" he said as he pushed her off towards the safety of the forge.

As Hiccup ran for the forge, Stoick turned to his cousin Spitelout and questioned "What have we got?"

Spitelout looked up to the mass of dragons above as he replied "Gronckles, Nadders, Zipplebacks. Oh, and Hoark saw a pair of Monstrous Nightmares."

"Any Night Furies?" Stoick asked worryingly.

"None so far." Spitelout answered.

"Good. What about that Wraith?"

"Nothing ye... Ahh, here it comes." he said as he saw the familiar blue glow of the Wraith in the sky as it approached the village.

Hiccup eventually reached the forge where she was greeted by Gobber who was interchanging his arm. "Ah! Nice of you to join the party! I thought you'd been carried off!"

"Who me? Nah, come on! I'm waaaay too muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all this." Hiccup replied sarcastically with a grin as she put on her apron and prepared the fire.

"Well, they need toothpicks, don't they?" he joked as he handed her a sword to sharpen and rebalance.

Meanwhile outside, Stoick was planning what to do as he watched the dragons swarm above him. "We move to the lower defenses. We'll counter-attack with the catapults." he ordered to a group of men as they began to run for the catapult.

As they were moving, several dragons swooped down and set fire to some of the houses. "FIRE!" one viking yelled.

The forge became quite for a moment an Hiccup took the opportunity to look outside at the commotion. She saw all the vikings running up and down as they tried to fight the swarm above them. She also saw the buildings that were set alight which were being put out by Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins and Andor.

While Hiccup was watching, she was abruptly pulled back by Gobber and pushed back to the fire pit. "Oh, come on. Let me out, please? I need to make my mark!" she protested.

"Oh, you've made plenty of marks. All in the wrong places." he said as he handed some swords out to the vikings by the window.

"Please, two minutes. I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better. My dad might even say 'Good job'." She pleaded.

As much as Gobber admired her tenacity, he knew that she wouldn't last out there. "You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe, you can't even throw one of these!" he said while holding up a bola that got snatched by another viking.

Hiccup walked over to the other side of the forge, gesturing to her latest invention as she confidently replied "Okay, fine, but this will throw it for me." However as she nudged it, it fired its bola right into the face of the next customer.

"See, now this right here is what I'm talking about!" Gobber said as he began to grow frustrated. Hiccup quickly closed the blow launcher and locked it as she apologetically said "Mild calibration issue-"

"Don't you- no- Hiccup. If you ever want to get out there to fight dragons, you need to stop all... this." Gobber said as he pulled her away from the launcher and gestured to her.

"But you just pointed to all of me!" Hiccup replied blandly. "Yes! That's it! Stop being all of you!" Gobber returned.

Hiccup was getting annoyed herself now. All she wanted to do was help out and prove herself to her father that she could do good. "You, sir, are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much, raw... Vikingness contained? THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES!" she protested.

"I'll take my chances. Sword. Sharpen. Now." Gobber said in a dead expression and voice. Knowing that the argument wasn't going anywhere, Hiccup grabbed the blade and took it over to the sharpening stone.

Meanwhile outside, Stoick was with a team of men on one of the main catapults. "FIRE!" Stoick ordered. The catapult released of load and brought down one of the gronckles.

The gronckle landed in the village stress and tried to get back up but was still in view of the catapult crew. Stoick ordered them to fire again and they did so but just as the boulder was halfway towards the injured dragon, a blue blur streaked past it, turning the boulder to dust with a blueish-purple explosion.

Stoick watched as the gronckle was bought enough time to escape and the Wraith hovered steadily over the village, watching the catapult crew. "FIRE AGAIN!" Stoick ordered, hoping to try bring down the Wraith.

The main catapult released yet another round that headed straight for the Wraith, with said dragon not budging an inch. As the boulder approached, Stoick watched as it reached for the side of its left arm and revealing a sword not a moment later. It was still rumoured that this Wraith had a sword but most people could never tell. The Wraith never landed much and even if it did, it was simply too fast and had too bright a glow for anyone to see anything. In one stroke, the boulder was cut cleanly into two pieces. With one final glare between Stoick and the Wraith, the glowing fear-class dragon continued on with its interventions around the village.

Stoick's attention was pulled away from the Wraith and towards the side of the tower. He saw how the side of the tower was being set alight with a Monstrous Nightmare emerging a moment later.

"Reload! I'll take care of this." Stoick said as he pulled out his hammer and attacked the Nightmare. He hit the dragon over its head repeatedly whilst the stoker tried to snap at the chief with its powerful jaws.

The Nightmare eventually jumped off the side of the tower and flew away but not because of Stoick's efforts. It was because of an approaching high pitched siren roar that was getting louder and louder.

"NIGHT FURY! GET DOWN!" some vikings in the village shouted.

Stoick knew exactly what the Night Fury was going to attack. "JUMP!" he ordered with the catapult exploding barely two seconds later. Vikings be can to clear out in the area around the tower as the Fury doubled back and destroyed the entire structure with a second strike.

Meanwhile, back at the forge, Gobber looked outside and could see things were getting bad. With the main catapult gone, the village would need all hands on deck for its defence. "Man the fort, Hiccup, they need me out there!" he said as he attached his axe hand and charged outside. Just as he reached the doorway, he turned back and said to Hiccup "Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean."

She was now alone in the forge. This was exactly what she despised. She was a brilliant smith but she absolutely hated being stuck by the fire pit and sharpening stone just fixing weapons as they came. She wanted to be outside and help fight dragons. Looking back to her bola launcher, she pulled off her apron, grabbed her machine and ran outside.

"Hiccup, where are you going?! Come back here!" the line of vikings outside shouted to her as she ran pas them. "I know. Be right back!" Hiccup shouted back apologetically as she weaved past the mess of villagers and burning buildings.

Reaching the far side of the village and finding a quiet spot on a hilltop, she set up her launcher and scanned the skies for a target. "Come on. Gimme something to shoot at, gimme something to shoot at." she whispered to herself.

Her eyes combed the night sky back and forth until she caught a glimpse of a shadow coming towards her. In quick action, she took aim and pulled the trigger. The mesh of ropes and stones fired with enough force that Hiccup was pushed back from the launcher and onto her back. As she pulled herself up, all she heard was a wailing screech and a shadow falling towards the woods. "Oh, I hit it! YES, I HIT IT! Did anybody see that?" she shouted in excitement only to turn around and find that no viking saw what she had accomplished.

She suddenly heard a loud *crunch* behind her and turned around to see an adolescent Monstrous Nightmare. "Except for you." she said in a low tone as she backed up.

Back in the village, Stoick and a team of men had just finished tying down a group of nadders in a net when a loud scream pulled his attention to the other side of the village where he saw Hiccup trying to outrun a Nightmare. The chief let out a heavy sigh and ran after his daughter. "DO NOT let them escape!" he said to the men as he left them.

The stoker dragon had chased Hiccup across the village and into the central plaza, repeatedly firing it lava at her but missing every time. It eventually got to its final shot and lined up a shot on Hiccup she couldn't dodge. She countered by diving behind one of the plaza torches where she narrowly got away from the lava as it hit the support beam and streamed by her.

For a moment, everything was quiet. All Hiccup could hear was the crackling of burning wood and she felt as though she was alone. That was until she felt a presence to her left and a heavy breathing on her shoulder. She slowly turned her head to the source of the breathing to find the head of the Nightmare looming over her and getting ready to strike. Hiccup dropped to the floor and through her arms up in defense and out of fear but just as the Nightmare leaned down towards her, it received a powerful left hook from Stoick.

The dragon staggered backwards from the force of the punch and readied itself to attack Stoick. However, as it tried to fire its lava at the chief, barely a drop of spit came out. "You're all out." Stoick said as he charged the Nightmare and repeatedly hit it over the head.

Seeing that it was out of options, the stoker dragon took off into the sky. Little did Stoick know, a dark maroon titan-wing Nightmare was coming at him from behind in the sky.

By the time Stoick heard the roar of the Nightmare, the dragon had already landed and swung its large tail at the chief. Stoick wasn't able to get put of the way in time and took the tail to his chest, sending him back several meters and landing on his back.

Hiccup rushed to her dads side and tried to help him get back up but the Nightmare was closing fast and nobody could reach them in time. They thought it was the end until a blue light landed between the dragon and the vikings and gave off a deep growl.

The dragon stopped it charge and eyed the small Wraith in front of it. This was also the first time ever the Vikings had a chance to get a look at the Wraith. They still couldn't make out too many details due to the bright glow, but they could see that it stood on two legs rather than four, had no tail and only two wings instead of four. They also knew that since the day it arrived, it was smaller than the average Wraith. However now that it was standing still, they could see how it was no bigger than a tall teenage boy.

Both the Wraith and the Nightmare exchanged a few growls in dragonese as the Nightmare kept flaming up while the Wraith kept pacing side to side, keeping itself between the dragon and the Haddocks.

However after one growl by the stoker, the Wraith stopped dead in his tracks and started glaring daggers at his rival. 'I don't want to fight you, but I will give you a reason to leave.' Draven quietly thought to himself.

The villagers around the plaza watched as the Wraith did indeed pull out a sword from a protrusion on its left arm and pegged the blade end into the dirt. It then slowly began to walk towards the Nightmare with his wings extended and arms down. The nightmare reacted by unleashing its full load of lava at the Wraith. The smaller fear-class dragon wrapped itself within its wings to protect itself, and six seconds later, the Nightmare was all out of fire.

With the stoker's primary attack gone, the Wraith unwrapped itself from its wings and extending them backwards, revealing the bladed spikes on the ends of his wings. With the Wraith still maintaining its slow casual walk towards its rival, the Nightmare became lost within its rage and darted at its smaller enemy with the intention of crushing it between its powerful jaws.

As the Nightmare was about to clamp down on the strange Wraith, the fear-class dug the blade ends of its wings into the ground for added traction and caught the stoker's jaws, pushing back against it with all its might.

Everyone in the village (mainly Stoick and Hiccup) as well as the dragons flying overhead watched speechless as the Wraith was not only winning the pushing fight, but seemed to be protecting the two vikings behind it.

The struggle continued on for a few more seconds until the Wraith shut the Nightmare's jaws, repositioned itself to get closer to the stoker's eyes, reared it head back and let out a blood freezing, spine chilling, ear piercing roar that sounded like a mix of a banshee-like screech and a deep menacing growl. It was the kind of sound one would only find in one of the deepest pits of hell.

After three seconds of the roar, the Wraith let go of the Nightmare and tossed its head to the side. Lowering itself in defeat as well as shuddering in pure fear, the Nightmare made a hasty retreat, bumping the damaged torch tower in the process.

Seeing it was its time to leave as well, the miniature Wraith quickly secreted a thick black smoke from its body that shrouded the plaza long enough for it to grab its sword and disappear from sight. As soon as the shroud dissipated, everyone heard a crackling noise by the torch tower with it collapsing a second later. The top of the tower broke off and rolled down the village, setting free the group of nadders Stoick had captured earlier and allowing the dragons to escape with their catch.

"Sorry, Dad." Hiccup said apologetically with her head held low in defeat. "Okay, but I hit a Night Fury." she quickly added just before Stoick grabbed her by the arm and dragged her off towards the other end of the plaza and towards the house.

"It's not like the last few times, Dad! I mean I really actually hit it! You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot. It went down, just off Raven Point. Let's get a search party out there, before it-" Hiccup pleaded until Stoick stopped her.

"STOP! Just... stop. Every time you step outside, disaster follows. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter's almost here and I have an entire village to feed!" he explained in frustration.

"Between you and me, the village could do with a little less feeding, don't ya think?" Hiccup joked, referring to the fact that most people around the village were overweight to say the least.

"This isn't a joke, Hiccup! Why can't you follow the simplest orders?" he said to her.

"I can't stop myself. I see a dragon and I have to just... kill it, you know? It's who I am, Dad." Hiccup said back to her father in a mixed apologetic and pleading tone.

Little did they know, 'Hood' was behind a nearby house and was eavesdropping. "You? A dragon killer? I know you too well Hiccup. You won't reduce yourself to a killer like the rest of us." Draven quietly muttered to himself with a slight laugh as he kept himself concealed.

"You are many things, Hiccup. You're smart and a great smith. But a dragon killer is not one of them. Get back to the house." Stoick finished as he put a hand on her shoulder. He then turned to Gobber and said in a more harsh tone "Make sure she gets there. I have her mess to clean up."

"Quite the performance."

"I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped!"

Hiccup rolled her eyes and tried to ignore Tuffnut's and Snotlout's comments as she replied back plainly "Thank you, thank you. I was trying, so..."

Gobber escorted Hiccup all the way to her home on top of the hill. "I really did hit one." Hiccup muttered in defeat. All she ever wanted was to please her father but that always seemed a near impossible task. "Sure, Hiccup." Gobber uninterestingly replied.

"He never listens." Hiccup commented.

"Well, it runs in the family." Gobber added.

They reached the door where Hiccup chirped "And when he does, it's always with this... disappointed scowl. Like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich." She them put on her father's expression and mockingly continued "Excuse me, barmaid! I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms. Extra guts and glory on the side. This here, this is a talking fish bone!"

"Now, you're thinking about this all wrong. It's not so much what you look like, it's what's inside that he can't stand." Gobber said as he gestured to her. "Thank you for summing that up." Hiccup replied sarcastically.

"Look, the point is, stop trying so hard to be something yer' not. As your father said, yer' smart, talented not to mention easy on the eyes. You need to stop trying too hard. You just need to be yourself." Gobber said in a reassuring tone of voice.

Hiccup turned and placed a hand on her door to push it open when Gobber added "By the way, I do admire your tenacity. A few years ago, you'd dive under the table at the sight of a Terrible Terror. Nowadays, you charged right through the village without a care as dragons swarmed everywhere."

Hiccup couldn't really care for what the master smith said. For her, she still saw herself as a screw up and couldn't please her father. "I just want to be one of you guys." she answered weakly as she entered her home and shut the door. Gobber let out a deep sigh as he turned and started his way back to the forge.

However inside the house, Hiccup's mind kept racing about the dragon she shot down. 'I still have a chance.' she thought to herself as she grabbed her dagger, sketchbook and bolted out the back door and towards the woods.

* * *

><p>So that's the first three chapters. Chapter four will be up this coming Sunday and every other chapter will also be posted every Sunday. Let me know what you guys think so far.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4: The downed dragon

Chapter 4 up on Sunday, just as I promised. I hope to keep my chapters consistant like this. If there will be a delay, it will be with in the two weeks around November 4th, but hopefully that won't happen.

* * *

><p>After Hiccup had run into the woods in search of her prize, Stoick had gathered the village in the great hall for a meeting. "Either we finish them or they'll finish us! It's the only way we'll be rid of them! If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragons will leave. They'll find another home! One more search. Before the ice sets in." he said to his people.<p>

"Those ships never come back." one viking said worryingly.

"We're Vikings! It's an occupational hazard!" Stoick returned to try reassure his people. "Now who's with me?"

"Today's not good for me. I've gotta do my axe returns." some of the vikings muttered as nobody volunteered to go with in the hunt.

"Alright. Those who stay will look after Hiccup." Stoick commented with a sly grin under his beard, to which everyone almost immediately raised their hands to volunteer. It wasn't because they didn't want to look after Hiccup, they actually didn't mind that. Hiccup was a well mannered girl who could more or less look after herself despite her occasional mistake. The reason they all volunteered was that they knew that if any harm came to Hiccup, they would have to face Stoick's wrath afterwards.

"That's more like it." Stoick said to himself as the people began to make their way to the docks.

Gobber tried to get up from his seat as he took a sip of his drink and said to Stoick "Right, I'll pack my undies."

"No, I need you to stay and train some new recruits." Stoick ordered. Gobber looked to his friend and said in a sarcastic tone "Oh, perfect. And while I'm busy, Hiccup can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor sharp blades, lots of time to herself... what could possibly go wrong?"

"What am I going to do with her, Gobber?" Stoick said as he paced back and forth. "Put her in training with the others." the blacksmith answered plainly.

"No, I'm serious." Stoick said sternly. "So am I." Gobber replied.

"She'll be killed before you let the first Dragon out of its cage." the chief said, sounding almost convinced.

"Oh, you don't know that."

"I do know that, actually."

"No, you don't."

"No, actually, I do."

"No, you don't!"

Feeling that their argument was getting nowhere, Stoick took a deep breath and let out "Listen, you know what she's like. From the time she could crawl she's been... different. She doesn't listen. She has the attention span of a sparrow. I take her fishing and she goes hunting for... for trolls!"

"Trolls exist!" Gobber snapped back, sounding almost convinced himself. "They steal your socks. But only the left ones. What's with that?" he finished.

Remembering how he was in his own childhood compared to Hiccup, he Stoick paced as he began "When I was a boy..."

"Oh, here we go." Gobber exclaimed in an uncaring manner.

"My father told me to bang my head against a rock and I did it. I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him. And you know what happened?"

"You got a headache." Gobber answered.

"That rock split in two. It taught me what a Viking could do, Gobber. He could- He could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas! Even as a boy, I knew what I was, what I had to become. Hiccup is not that person."

"You can't stop her, Stoick. You can only prepare her. Look, I know it seems hopeless. But the truth is you won't always be around to protect her. She's going to get out there again. She's probably out there now." Gobber said, trying to convince his friend, and based on the look in Stoick's eyes, he did just that.

...

It was noon now. Hiccup had spent several hours already combing the woods back and forth looking for her prize. While doing some calculations in her sketchbook, she had estimated the next possible area the dragon could have crashed, only for her to survey the area in front of her and find a tree.

"Oh, the gods hate me." she muttered to herself as she scratched out the entire page of calculations and put her book away. Feeling defeated, Hiccup began to aimlessly walk about the forest and think aloud to herself, not knowing that two sets of eyes were watching her from a distance. "Some people lose their knife or their mug. No, not me. I manage to lose an entire dragon?!" Out of frustration, she smacked a branch that was in her way, only for it to snap back and hit her over the forehead.

Hiccup's head stung a little and when she ran her hand over the area, she felt a light cut and a small amount of blood. It wasn't flowing, but it was exposed.

However, Hiccup's thoughts were pulled away from the scratch when she looked ahead and saw that another tree was almost completely flattened with a deep drag mark going through the dirt and over a small incline.

Cautiously, she kept along the trench and looked over the top of the small hill to which her eyes came upon a large shadowy figure. Out of shock, she pulled herself back to hide behind a boulder but soon remembered that this was the dragon she was looking for. It would be restrained by the bolas and incapable of movement.

She slowly peered around the rock with her dagger drawn to see the dragon sound asleep and wrapped in a mesh of ropes.

"Oh, wow. I did it. Oh, I did it!" Hiccup gloated to herself as she approached the dark dragon. "This fixes everything! Yes! I have brought down this mighty beast!" she said, placing a foot on the dragons paw.

Unfortunately the dragon wasn't in that deep a sleep and nudged its paw hard enough to push Hiccup back and cause her to stumble. As she pulled herself up to approach the dragon again, the young girl saw a large toxic green eye. It was awake.

Kneeling down next to the dragons with dagger in hand, Hiccup prepared herself for what she had come out into the woods to do. "I'm going to kill you, dragon. I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father." she said to herself.

"I'm a Viking. I AM A VIKING!" she said again to mentally prepare herself yet she felt as though something was stopping her, like some unknown force had other ideas.

Trying her best to shut these thoughts out, she raised her dagger, ready to deal the killing strike, until she took one last look into the dragon's eyes. She saw one thing in those pools of toxic green; fear. This was no heartless monster. It had a heart and soul like her and was afraid of death, just like any human would be. "Finish it then." the dragon said as he shut his eyes and waited for the end.

'Don't do it Hiccup. Don't be like them.' Draven quietly thought to himself as he and Violet watched quietly from some dense vegetation.

"I did this." Hiccup muttered to herself in defeat as she lowered her dagger and looked to the ground. She had always seen dragon slaying as the greatest thing she as a viking could achieve and why wouldn't she. Living with dragon killing vikings for fifteen years will indoctrinate you into thinking that, however as she gazed at the dragon in front of her, all she could see was that she brought pain, suffering and fear to an innocent hearted soul. The dragon didn't deserve this.

The dragons eyes flew open when he began to hear the sound of cutting but didn't feel anything. It wasn't his hide being cut, but the ropes. With every slice, he could feel the ropes loosening on his body until the final rope on his back legs was cut.

Out of instinct, he lunged at Hiccup and pinned her down by the neck onto a nearby rock and glared at her. Draven tensed at the sight and was on the verge of lunging out at the dragon but saw that the dragon was stalling. The dragon was interested to say the least. This human girl didn't kill him. It set him free but she did have the same sent as the ropes for some reason. He soon quickly realised that the reason for this was that she was the one who made the bolas that restrained him.

Hiccup's breathing was fast and shallow as she too was filled with fear as she gazed up at the dragon. She began to think that this might be the end. Would anyone miss her? She didn't think so. Hiccup simply closed her own eyes and tensed, waiting for the dragon to either snap her neck or eat her. Or both.

Instead of doing either of these, the Night Fury reared its head back and left out a deafening roar right in Hiccup's ear that shook her entire being.

Thinking that he had scared her enough and simply returning the favor for not killing him, the dragon turned and bolted deeper into the woods, trying to take off but hitting a cliff face in the process.

Hiccup couldn't believe what just happened. She let out a gasp as she held her arms close and tried to get up, barely taking two steps before fainting face first into the ground. For a while, all was quiet as Hiccup played there completely passed out, until Draven and Violet approached the scene.

"Well...that went better than expected." Violet said as she stood next to her rider. Draven didn't give an answer as he knelt down next to Hiccup to turn her onto her back and examine to see if she was okay.

As Draven was examining the new cut on Hiccup's head, Violet remembered how the Night Fury slammed into a wall on his attempt to take off. "That Night Fury seemed to have trouble taking off."

As she said that, Draven caught a new sent. The sent of dragon blood. "My guess is he's injured. Most likely an aerial injury, hence his sloppyness of his take off. Follow him, see how far he gets."

"What about her?" Violet asked her rider before she left. "Well I'm not leaving her out here so I'm taking her back to our place to look after her until she wakes up. I'd come home late if I were you since I don't know when she'll wake up." Draven replied as he picked Hiccup up.

"Sure thing." Violet answered as she took to the air to track the Night Fury.

...

Repeatedly the Night Fury would crash into trees, rocks or the ground as he tried to take off. "What's going on here? Why can't I get up?" the Night Fury said to himself.

Meanwhile in the air, Violet was actually having trouble trying to find where the Fury had run off to. "Where the hell is he? How does a flightless dragon disappear like that?" she muttered, as she flew over the forest. As a result, she had to fly lower to the ground and through the tree line to try and find him. Unfortunately now with her low altitude, her scent was starting to carry through the forest.

Meanwhile back at ground level, the Night Fury had stopped attempting to get in the air out of frustration and was resting by a large oak tree. He was pulled from his thoughts when he picked up on a scent in the treeline that was approaching him. "I know that scent." he thought aloud as he climbed into the tree and prepared to pounce.

As he sat in the dense branches, the scent was slowly getting stronger as it carried through the trees by the wind. He viewed the treeline until he spotted a dark purple Skrill flying towards him, completely oblivious to his position.

As she passed by the tree, the Night Fury pounced onto her and brought her to the ground. Both tumbled into a clearing in the woods.

The Skrill and the Night Fury quickly got up and into defensive postures as they glared daggers at each other.

"I know you. You're the Skrill that flies with that Wraith. Why do you two constantly interfere with our hunts?" the Night Fury growled at her.

"We have our reasons." Violet growled back. "Mainly it's just because we are tired of all the slaughter. We are tired of a war that has gone on for centuries and we are trying to end it."

The Night Fury had watched this Skrill since she arrived. She always followed the Wraith's lead and she never did anything too harmful to dragon or viking alike. Like the Wraith, she usually just distracted or tackled dragons or Vikings that tried to kill each other but she never tried to intentionally hurt anybody. She was relatively harmless.

"I admire you're efforts Skrill but this is not an option for my brethren and I." the Night Fury said to her.

"Why not?" Violet shouted. "You telling me that you and you hive enjoy war?"

"It's not that simple. Our lives depend on the hunts. Believe me, I too wish there wasn't any war but we will die if we don't hunt this island." the Fury answered the Skrill.

"And what exactly is that reason? Why do you HAVE to wage war?" she asked. The Night Fury tried to answer but he couldn't. He physically couldn't. He dropped his head in shame and Violet saw the expression in his eyes. She realised that it not only pained him to discuss this topic, but something was preventing him from giving her an answer. She realised that he and the other dragons were doing this against their own free will.

Not needing him to answer, Violet simply turned around and opened her wings. She knew the area where the Fury was and he could go anywhere. She didn't see any need to stay anymore. "I'm leaving. There's a cove nearby to the North where can hide and rest." She said as she raised her wings.

The Night Fury looked back up to her and saw she was about to leave. "Wait! Do you have a name?" he asked curiously. He couldn't explain it. It was intrigued by this female Skrill to say the least, how she and a Wraith defied everything to stop vikings and dragons from slaying each other. "Violet." she answered as she glanced back to him. "And that Wraith isn't a Wraith. He's a human. His life and my own were destroyed five years ago by a real Wraith and we intend to return the favor should he ever return."

The Night Fury was taken aback by this revelation. A human that could become a semi-Wraith? It was unheard of. Before he could say anything, the Skrill took to the sky.

'Violet' he thought her name to himself as he proceeded North to find the cove she mentioned for him to rest in.

...

Hiccup's eyes slowly began to batter open from her deep sleep. She quickly noticed that she was lying a bed in someone's home. She surveyed her surrounding and saw someone on the far side of the room by a study area working on some documents. It was Hood.

"Finally awake I see." Hood said as he finished up on his current page and stacked his work into a pile under the table.

Hiccup groaned as she sat up in the bed and held her hand to her head, to which she noticed her cut was gone. "What?... How did I?..." she tried to say, but Hood interrupted as he got up from his desk and started to walk to her side with mask and hood still on. "I found you passed out in the forest. I brought you here and mended the cut on your forehead."

As he walked to her, he passed his kitchen and grabbed a bowl and a small container. He opened the container and scooped some of it contents into the bowl, taking the bowl to Hiccup afterwards.

After handing it to Hiccup, he pulled up a seat and sat next to the nearby fire. Hiccup stared at the contents in the bowl. It was white, foamy, and made the bowl rather cold. Not wanting to offend her host, she took a bite out of the contents with her spoon.

To her surprise, it was delicious. It was sweet with a sugary taste as well as refreshing with its cold foamy consistency. "Wow, what is this?" Hiccup asked, barely able to contain the fact that she was thoroughly enjoying it.

"It's frozen boiled yack milk with a dashing of sugar." Hood answered. "Haven't picked a name for it though. I'm thinking something with 'ice' but I haven't decided."

Hiccup continued to go through the bowl when she heard Hood ask "So...do anything interesting today?"

Hiccup body froze almost in an instant and it wasn't from the food. "Umm...nothing interesting really. Been a bit of a boring day actually." she answered nervously.

"Boring!?" Hood let out. "Ya know, I would exactly call coming face to face with a Night Fury boring." he said.

Hiccup tensed as he eyes dilated. She felt her heartbeat quicken and she began to panic. "Uh, what are you talking about? I didn't see any..."

Hood cut her off. "Hiccup, I saw the whole thing. From the moment you saw him to the moment he flew off."

The cat was out of the bag for Hiccup. She dropped her head in shame and felt that tears were about to start flowing. 'I guess I really am just useless. I can't even kill one dragon and now people are going to find out.' she thought to herself as she stared at the ground.

"Why you crying?" she heard Hood ask. Hiccup looked back up to him with mixed emotions shame and confusion in her eyes. To answer her confusion, Hood said in a soothing voice "Hiccup, I know we haven't talked much in the few months I've been here but have I ever done anything to hurt you? Have I ever done anything to make you miserable or make your life difficult?"

Feeling partially comforted, Hiccup shook her head slightly, to which Hood finished "So tell me; what would I have to gain by running off and telling everyone that you let the Night Fury you shot down go?"

Hiccup lowered her head again, not even being able to answer even that question from Hood. Right now, she just wanted to crawl in a hole and disappear. She just didn't want anybody to know her secret.

She was pulled from her thoughts when she heard the scuttling of small claws by the upstairs window and a red Terrible Terror fly down and perch itself on Hood's arm like a tame parrot. Hiccup's eyes couldn't expand wide enough as she stared at the Terror in front of her.

Hood noticed her expression and broke the awkward silence that came upon them. "Hiccup, Letters. Letters, Hiccup. This Terror helps me communicate with some friends I have on neighboring islands via flying letters between here and there."

The Terror looked over to Hiccup and licked his own eye as he smiled. He was a friendly natured dragon that always showed attention just so long as he was fed. Speaking of fed, the tiny stoker jumped off of Hood's arm and to the rafters after Hood had given him a piece of fish.

Hood looked back over to Hiccup and said reassuringly "You know, I believe that we all have a purpose to fulfil in this world. We might not know what that purpose it or when or will reveal itself. All I know is that one day, we will find it. Sure it might not be being a dragon killer, but who ever said that being a dragon killer was the most important thing there was."

This was a side Hiccup wasn't expecting to hear from Hood. Between what he was saying and the Terror perched on his arm, she realised he was a dragon sympathizer. Hood finally finished, "So I've let you in on one of my own secrets. Let's make a deal: I don't tell your secret if you don't tell mine."

Hiccup was at least reassured by this news. Simply giving a nod and a small smile, Hood finished with a nod of his own. "It's getting late. I should get you home." he said as he stood up followed by Hiccup.

As he led her outside and the two started walking along the path towards the village, Hiccup had noticed a few things about the cottage. She actually hadn't been there since she showed Hood the house the day he arrived, and was interested to notice that Hood had built a miniature workshop as well as a rather large stable attached to the house.

She didn't ask anything of the modifications as Hood led her home.

...

It was already night time by the time Hiccup got home. Carefully and quietly, she opened her front door to find her father on the far said of the room by the fire, gazing into it.

As quiet as she could, she tried to make her way to her room without being noticed.

"Hiccup." Stoick said, bring Hiccup to a halt on the stairs.

"Dad." Hiccup said rather quickly and in a nervous tone. "Uh... I have to talk to you, Dad."

"I need to speak with you too, Hiccup." the chief said as he walked over to his daughter on the stair.

"I've decided I don't want to fight dragons. I think it's time you learn to fight dragons. What?" both said in perfect unison.

"You go first." Stoick said to Hiccup with a gesture of his hand.

"No, no, you go first dad." Hiccup replied.

Taking a breath, Stoick answered his daughter "Alright. You get your wish. Dragon Training. You start in the morning."

Hiccup immediately felt her body tense at what her father said and began to panic. "Oh, man, I should've gone first! Uh, 'cause I was thinking, you know, we have a surplus of dragon-fighting Vikings, but do we have enough... bread-making Vikings, or small home repair Vikings-?"

"You'll need this." Stoick said as he handed her an axe, not taking in anything she was saying.

"I don't want to fight dragons." Hiccup said, her voice slightly clouded than its normal volume.

"Come on. Yes, you do." Stoick said with a slight chuckle, thinking his daughter was joking.

"Rephrase. Dad, I can't kill dragons." Hiccup repeated in protest.

"But you will kill dragons." Stoick said again, not actually hearing what Hiccup was saying.

"No, I'm really very extra sure that I won't." Hiccup protested again.

"It's time, Hiccup." Stoick said as he placed a hand on Hiccup shoulder, as if he were expecting her to be overjoyed by the news.

"Can you not hear me?!" Hiccup almost shouted, wishing her dad could just hear her and take back what he had said.

"This is serious, Hiccup! When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you. Which means you walk like us. You talk like us. You think like us. No more of... this." he said, gesturing his arms to her.

"You just gestured to all of me." Hiccup said plainly.

"Deal?" the chief asked.

"This conversation is feeling very one-sided." Hiccup let out in frustration. Why couldn't her father just listen to her.

"DEAL?!" Stoick nearly shouted, as if ordering her.

Feeling somewhat defeated, all Hiccup could do was give her father what he wanted. "Deal." she murmured with a roll of her eyes.

"Good. Train hard. I'll be back. Probably." Stoick said as he grabbed his helmet, supply basket and made his way to the door.

"And I'll be here. Maybe." Hiccup replied in a now saddened mood. Her day was turbulent to say the least. First she accidentally messed up in the raid in the morning, then she let's the dragon she shot down go, then she learned that her secret was known, now she was put into dragon training against her will.

As much as she loved her father, she also in a way slightly hated him. He would never listen to her or even look her in the eye, and whenever he did look at her or talk to her, there was no daughter/father bond that was present. Anything he said to her always came out as more of an order. Most times, he wasn't her father but her chief.

Just wanting to forget the days events, Hiccup made her way to her room and prepared for bed, just hoping the next day would be more manageable and smoother than the one she just went through.


	5. Chapter 5: Secrets revealed

"Welcome to Dragon Training!" Gobber shouted out enthusiastically as Andor, Snotlout, Fishlegs, the twins entered the arena with Hiccup trailing several meters behind him.

"No turning back." Andor said to himself as he led the group into the stone large stone arena.

"I hope I get some serious burns." Tuffnut eagerly said to the group.

"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back." Ruffnut said as well. If there was one thing the twins enjoyed, it was self inflicted pain.

"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it." Andor added as he surveyed the arena.

"Yeah, no kidding, right? Pain. Love it." Hiccup sarcastically muttered as she entered the ring to join the group.

"Oh, didn't know we'd be getting you." Tuffnut said whilst trying to strike a manly pose to get her attention.

"Let's get started!" Gobber announced to the group before they could start pestering Hiccup. "The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village." the smith finished.

The group then heard Snotlout say with a gesture to Hiccup "Ah, Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify her or...?"

Hiccups attention was pulled from her annoying cousin back to Tuffnut when she heard him speak again. "Why disqualify her? She could give us tips." the male twin said as he leaned in closer to Hiccup.

All Hiccup could do was ignore the two 'former-bullies-now-turned-into-idiots-who-won't-stop hitting-on-her' and shrug her shoulders as she backed away from them.

With Hiccup shunning them, they joined Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Andor as they approached the large iron doors at the back of the arena.

Hiccup followed close behind but was too lost in her thoughts to notice Gobber come up to her side and place a hand over her shoulder. "Don't worry. You're small and you're harmless. That'll make you less of a target! They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead." he said trying to reassure her that she will be okay.

It wasn't getting hurt that was bothering Hiccup, it was the events of the previous day that kept on looping over in her head, from coming face to face with the Night Fury, to having the conversion with Hood, to the cold uncaring way her father said 'goodbye'.

As all the teens lined up, Goober stood in front of them and began to tell them about the dragons in the cages. "Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight. The Deadly Nadder."

"Speed: eight; Armor: sixteen." Fishlegs muttered

"The Hideous Zippleback."

"Plus eleven stealth times two." Fishlegs added

"The Monstrous Nightmare."

"Firepower: fifteen."

"The Terrible Terror."

"Attack: eight; Venom: twelve!" Fishlegs said again, barely able to restrain his excitement.

"CAN YOU STOP THAT?!" Gobber shouted in frustration. With Fishlegs going quiet, Gobber reached the final door and place his hand on the lever. "And... the Gronckle."

"Jaw strength: eight." Fishlegs whispered to Hiccup. He knew she was the only one who didn't mind how he would get over excited about dragons.

"Whoa, whoa, wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first?!" Snotlout questioned in a panicking tone.

Gobber grinned wide as he answered Snotlout "I believe in learning on the job."

With a pull of the lever, the brown boulder-class dragon burst out of its cage and straight for the teens.

All the teens got out the way and scattered as they watched the gronckle.

"Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead! Quick, what's the first thing you're going to need?" Gobber informed and asked.

"A doctor?" Hiccup blurted out.

"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs answered

"A shield!" Andor corrected them.

"Shields! Go! Your most important piece of equipment is your shield! If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield!" Gobber instructed the group.

The six teens immediately spread out all over the arena to grab the nearest shield, with Andor, Fishlegs, Hiccup and Snotlout finding their shields rather quick and the twins fighting over one they found at the same time.

"Get your hands off my shield!" Tuffnut shouted to his sister.

"There's like a million shields!" Ruffnut shouted back, trying hard to pull the flame and skull covered shield away from her brother.

"Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers." Tuffnut said as he pointed over to another shield nearby.

With him trying to point out the other shield, Ruffnut was able to yank the shield away from him and decided to get even for him annoying her over the argument. She took the shield and hit it as hard as she could over her brothers head and said in a sarcastic tone "Oops, now this one has blood on it."

If the two were actually paying any kind of attention, they would have noticed that the gronckle was coming in their direction. In one quick strike, the dragon fired a lava ball at the twins and blasted the shield between them, leaving them dazed on the ground from the force.

"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!" Gobber said to them as he gestured for them to join him on the side of the ring.

With the twins coming over to him, Gobber instructed to the remaining teens "Those shields are good for another thing: noise! Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim!"

The group did as Gobber suggested and began banging on their shields to make enough noise as possible, and causing the Gronckle to start shaking its head and squint its eyes.

"All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?" Gobber informed and asked.

"Five?!" Snotlout shouted out as a random guess.

"No, six!" Fishlegs corrected

"Correct, six! That's one for each of you!" Gobber said as a bad joke.

Barely a second later, the Gronckle fired another shot that hit Fishlegs' shield, utterly vaporising it.

"Fishlegs, out." Gobber said to him. Hiccup meanwhile was towards the edge of the ring staying close to a chest-high-wall for cover. Gobber noticed this and went over to her to pull her out of cover and into the fight. As much as he knew she wasn't the fighter kind, he knew she would only learn through hands on experience.

On the other side of the ring, Snotlout was staying close to Andor to try and be friends with him. With Andor being the most skilled fighter of the teens, being his friend would be an instant step up in society. "So, anyway I'm moving into my parents' basement. You should come by sometime to work out. You look like you work out." he said try in to make small talk with Andor, with Andor completely ignoring him and for a good reason. The Gronckle turned in their direction and fired another lava ball that hit Snotlout's shield, knocking him to the ground.

"Snotlout! You're done!" Gobber said to him and featured for him to move towards the exit.

"So, I guess it's just you and me, huh?" Hiccup said as she stood next to Andor, simply trying to make friendly chatter.

"Nope. Just you." Andor replied. Speaking of which, Andor had actually had a secret crush on Hiccup for the past year, but in the heat of the training match, all of that was forgotten.

Andor dived to the side as the Gronckle fired its fifth shot that blasted Hiccup's shield from her hand, sending it rolling across the arena. "One shot left!" Gobber announced

With Andor off to the side not making any hasty moves and with Hiccup running across the arena to catch her shield, the Gronckle naturally went after the moving target.

"Hiccup!" Gobber shouted in fear as he saw the boulder-class dragon heading straight for his apprentice.

Hiccup eventually tripped while running after the shield and stumbled to the edge of the arena. As she rolled onto her back and stand up again, her eyes came upon the Gronckle at was standing right over her, readying its final shot.

With no shield and nowhere to run, Hiccup tensed up and shut her eyes, waiting for the Gronckle to strike.

However at the last second as the Gronckle was about to fire its final lava ball, a loud screech in the sky pulled her attention from Hiccup and distracted her enough to fire the ball above Hiccup as she was looking up.

Everybody looked up to the source of the sound and saw the Skrill flying overhead going in and out of the cloud cover. What they also noticed was that there seemed to be some kind of dark object on her back. The Skrill pulled into the clouds soon after and vacated the area.

With the Gronckle distracted, Gobber grabbed her by her teeth with his hook hand and flung her towards her cage. "And that's six! Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage! You'll get another chance, don't you worry." he said as he flung her away. "Remember; a dragon will always, always go for the kill." Gobber concluded to the group but most especially to Hiccup.

...

"So why didn't you?" Hiccup thought aloud to herself as she was inspecting the ropes she cut from the previous day. It was several hours later and Hiccup was wondering the forest, looking for any signs of the Night Fury. She was curious.

Following along the general direction the Dragon flew off in, she kept noticing areas where the grass and dirt had been disturbed, almost as if something kept slamming into the ground. One particular area she came across had two crash marks and signs of a scuttle.

Ignoring it, she continued through the forest until she found the Ravens Point cove. "Well, this was stupid." Hiccup muttered to herself, thinking she wasn't going to find anything.

As she said that, something caught her attention. Out the corner of her eye, she noticed several black scales lying on the floor. She bent down to inspect the jet black scale when a large shadow swooped past her, causer her to jolt from fright and fall back.

Quickly recovering, she looked up and saw it. The Night Fury. Trying to claw and flap its way out of the cove. After a few seconds, it fell back down into the cove and tried another attempt to fly out, only to fail and crash back into the ground.

Hiccup couldn't be anymore excited that she had found the Night Fury. While it was on the ground, she pulled out her notepad and charcoal pencil and began to sketch out the dragon.

"Why don't you just... fly away?" she thought aloud to herself while sketching, until she noticed something missing. The Night Fury only had one fin on its tail. She couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt come over her. Her bola launcher must have ripped his other fin off when he crashed in the woods the previous morning.

The dragon tried yet again to fly but crash yet again, close to the side of the lake. Getting tired of this cycle of defeat, he decided to take a break and walked over to the waters edge. Catching a blimps of some fish, he snapped at them hoping to catch one to eat, but caught only water between his teeth.

Hiccup's interest was growing by the second and leaned further on the rock she was on, accidentally knocking her pencil down the cliff side.

The sound of the falling pencil wasn't very loud, but in the quiet area of the forest and the rock walls of the cove, it might as well sounded like somebody shouting to the moon. Hiccup froze as she watched the pencil hit the rock walls and land in the cove, with the Night Fury looking over to the source of the noise. In a simple second, he instantly saw and recognized Hiccup. "You again? What are you doing out here?" the dragon said as he walked to the other side of the lake where Hiccup was and sat down with an inquisitive look in his eyes.

Hiccup read his body language and could see he was not menacing. He seemed rather docile. Cautiously, she made her way down into the cove and to its entrance where the pencil had landed. The cove entrance had rocks on every side and was extremely narrow, meaning only Hiccup could fit through it. If the dragon tried anything, she'd be safe in there.

As she poked her head out of the rocks, she saw that the dragon had moved from the lakeside and was standing barely a foot from her pencil.

Her eyes kept tracing back and forth between the dragon and her pencil and the Night Fury noticed this. 'Ugh, what am I doing. I don't need the pencil, there's more at home.

She then turned and slowly made her way back through the narrow entrance. She stopped when she heard her pencil drop again but this time right behind her foot. Turning back towards the cove, she saw the Night Fury's head was poking through the entrance with pupils partially dilated and a lonely expression on his face. "Please don't leave." The dragon said to her. Yes, she may have been the one who shot him down, but he admired how someone so small and fragile could be so interested and inquisitive. Besides, he had no other company.

As Hiccup slowly picked up her pencil, she heard a grumbling noise coming from the dragon, but is wasn't he that was growling, it was his stomach. Feeling her guilt return, Hiccup pulled out a small loaf of bread from her satchel. Toothless and tilted his head while licking his lips. It may not have been fish, but it was something.

Hiccup took the loaf and threw it over the dragon, to which he quickly pulled back and caught it mid-air. When he turned back to where she was, she was gone. Letting out a heavy sigh, he made his way deeper into the cove and went to sleep.

Hiccup was actually still there behind one of the rocks. Inside, she was mixed between being worried that a dragon is so close to her, while also being interested and wanting to know more about this Night Fury. First is was the miniature Wraith that only she noticed seem to be protective of areas whenever she was there, and now the Night Fury that let her go when dragons supposedly 'always go for the kill'.

It didn't take long for her to think on what to do next. Wanting to know more about this situation, she climbed out of the cove entrance and into the forest. She walked through the woods and in the direction of the home of the person she knew was a dragon sympathizer.

...

Thirty minutes later, Hiccup had reached Hood's home. She walked up to his door and knocked several times but there was no answer. Carefully opening the door, she crept her head inside and saw the house was empty.

Closing the door, she checked the workshop next. Hood's workshop was about the third the size of the one she and Gobber used and wasn't as well equipped but it was decently. Hiccup went inside and saw that the fire pit had a minor glow to it and was still warm. 'Hood must have been here no more than twenty minutes ago' she thought to herself. Looking around at what he was working on, she could see that Hood had some moulds with dagger snapped indentations in them. 'Throwing knives' she thought to herself as she gazed at the moulds and the tools on the table.

Next, Hiccup investigated the stable. At first, she thought it may have been a yack or sheep stable but as she entered, she thought something else entirely. Instead of Yacks or sheep, it was empty and was one singular room. It didn't have stalls so whatever lived in there must have been large to say the least.

Leaving the stable, Hiccup made her was to a tree stump and took a seat to wait for Hood to get back from where ever he was.

She sat there for several minutes, listening to the cool autumn breeze go through the trees. In the calm quiet of the forest, she also heard something else off in the distance. Looking in the direction of the noise, she noticed a small pathway leading deeper into the forest. 'Maybe that's Hood' Hiccup wondered as she decided to follow the noise.

Hiccup followed the trail for several minutes looking for the source of the sound. If she had to describe the sounds, it would be a mix of things being broken, occasional grunting, and the sound of a sword being swung. The sword sound Hiccup found familiar. It was nearly identical to the sound of the weapon the Wraith used whenever he decided to unsheathe it. Like a high pitched metallical humming.

Continuing to follow the noises, Hiccup came to a small clearing that had a larger clearing behind a line of trees. The larger clearing was also sunk into the ground slightly. Hiccup couldn't see much through the dense line of tree that separated the two clearing but she could see what looked like several pendulum-like objects swinging from trees that branched out over the clearing. She also noticed some kind of timed gear controlled mechanism behind some bushes off to the side. Every time the gears reset themselves, the pendulums would begin swinging again in the larger clearing.

As Hiccup took a step towards the larger clearing, her attention was pulled to the sound of a twig snap behind her. 'Oh great. Somebody followed me.' Hiccup thought with a roll of her eyes. However as she turned around, her eyes didn't come upon any of the people from the village or Hood. Her eyes met with those of a large dark purple Skrill.

Hiccup breath hitched as she went stiff at the sight of the dragon. She knew from stories that Skrills were dangerous and very tough to kill. She'd even seen it herself during the dragon raids in the past few months. This Skrill however held no menacing stance or growl. It simply stared at Hiccup with dilated eyes and a tilted head. She also noticed a finely made...saddle...on its back.

The Skrill then began to slowly approach the young viking girl. Out of common reaction, Hiccup slowly tried to back away but tripped and fell on her back. As she prompted herself onto her elbows to get up, the Skrill was already standing over her with a curious expression in it's eyes.

"It's only because its you that I haven't alerted Draven that somebody is close." Violet said as she sniffed Hiccup. "It's a wonder he hasn't told you the truth yet. I think it's time I fixed that." Violet said with a sly grin whilst nudging Hiccup to stand up.

Once Hiccup had stood up, the Skrill walked around her and gestured with its head to follow. Thinking the day couldn't get any stranger, Hiccup followed the Skrill to the separating treeline.

Hiccup hid behind one of the trees and looked down into the pit. Her eyes immediately came upon Hood who was slashing away at the obstacles swinging back and forth around him and dodging when necessary. Hiccup then noticed three more things, the first of which didn't make her jaw drop as much as the other two.

First, she noticed that Hood's mask was lying on the edge of the area close to where she was. She had never seen his face and began to wonder what he might look like.

Then she looked directly at Hood and noticed two things she wasn't expecting. Not only was the sword he was using the SAME sword that she had seen the Wraith use the previous morning, but she also saw that Hood's right hand wasn't gloved like it always was. What she saw was a blue glowing hand with several back scales on it. Just like the Wraith. 'Is Hood...the Wraith?' she thought to herself.

She then heard some rustling in the bush behind her where the gear mechanism was. Turning her head, she saw the Skrill standing over the device with one of her talons over one of the gear sets that were inactive. She also seemed to be looking up at the sky, as if waiting for something.

Hiccup looked up to the sky to see what the dragon was looking at and saw that it was staring at a small cloud that was moving to block the sun any second now.

"Aaaaand...enjoy the show." Violet muttered as the cloud blocked the sun as she dropped her talon over the safety rope hold the one gear set. The gear set had triggered a vertical firing catapult hidden nearby and shot several painted rocks into the air.

Hearing the vertical launcher fire, Hood turned quickly (now face the direction Hiccup was in), looked up and fired a plasma bolt out of his right hand, turning the rocks to dust. "Violet I thought I asked you to patrol and watch for guests.

He lowered his eyes to where Violet would be standing as he knew only she could trigger the catapult. He quickly saw her eyes in the bushes but also saw someone else's eyes. Emerald green eyes. "Hiccup." he whispered to himself in shock. Did Violet do that intentionally.

He and Hiccup continued to stare at each other. With his hood still on and the fare amount of distance between them, Hiccup still couldn't really see what his face looked but there was one feature she could see. He had red eyes. Glowing red eyes.

"No time like the present" Draven murmured to himself as he took a step forward and to try explain himself to his friend. Hiccup however was barely able to process what she was looking at. Her 'friend' of a few months now who she had never seen his face, was a dragon sympathizer, was friends with a Skrill, had a glowing blue right hand, had glowing red eyes and had the same sword that the Wraith used. Hood was the Wraith.

To shocked to stay any longer, Hiccup got up and bolted into the woods as fast as she could. Draven quickly grabbed his mask and tried to run after her, but in human form, there would be no chance of him catching Hiccup. She was after all a faster runner than he was.

He stopped running after he reached his house with Violet trailing just behind him. By the scent, Draven could tell that she took the path that would take her deeper into the woods. She wasn't running for the village.

"I thought it was high time you got over yourself and told her the truth." he heard his dragon companion say.

Draven could barely believe this was happening. His loyal dragon and best friend had just sold him out. As he turned around to shout at her, he caught a second scent on the wind.

Draven paused for a second as he inhaled the scent and tried to identify it, and it wasn't a moment later as his eyes went wide upon realization. Outcasts were on the island, and Hiccup was running in their direction.

"SHIT! At the rate she's running she'll run into them in a matter of seconds." Draven worryingly said as he gazed in the direction of the scents.

"Well I guess there isn't any time to waste is there. Get on." Violet replied. Draven however was in no mood right now for anything she said or offered and shouted back. "Oh shut it. You stay here, you've done enough."

Violet wanted to try apologize for what she did and convince Draven that she wanted to help but before she could speak, Draven jumped into the subterranean tunnel network.

He knew that the quickest way for him to catch up would be to use his dragon form but with the sun high in the sky, he'd have to go underground. It also meant that if he had to fight outcasts in the sun, he'd have to keep the fight short as prolonged solar exposure would kill him.

"You'll thank me later." Violet quietly said to herself as she entered her stable and went to sleep. She didn't dare follow her rider as she knew that nobody would be safe if they got on Draven's bad side. Not even her.

...

Hiccup couldn't believe it. Her friend of the past few months was the Wraith itself. 'That's why he wore a mask' she thought as she continued to run as fast as she could through the forest. What she did think a bit strange was that she knew that the Wraith had horns, but when she looked at Hood, there was no evidence of horns under his hood. Not knowing a possibility, she continued to run.

The normal person would run straight back to the village and spread the news, but Hiccup just wanted to be alone right now to think things through. She was running in the opposite direction of the village, deeper and deeper into the forest.

She eventually came to a small clearing where she stopped by a tree to catch her breath. It was the same clearing she and Draven used to play tag in all those years ago.

While catching her breath, she heard several voices from a pathway beyond the clearings edge behind some bushes. Curious as to who it was, Hiccup crept up on the bushes only to find that it wasn't anyone from Berk. The talking was coming from three Outcasts.

Hiccup caught her breath at the sight and tried to stay as still as possible as to not attract their attention. The Outcasts continued to walk about the area and walked right past the bush Hiccup was hiding under and into the clearing where they stopped to talk some more.

For a moment, Hiccup thought she'd be safe under the bush just so long as she stayed quiet and didn't move. That was until a fourth Outcast grabbed her from behind her neck and pulled her out of the bush. "Well look here boys. Look like we just found the chief's daughter." Savage gloated to his men.

Hiccup wriggled and strained to get out of Savage's hold but it was no use. He was far stronger than her and she couldn't get any leverage. "Alvin will be mighty glad we found her. Stoick won't be able to resist this." one of the other Outcasts said.

The Outcasts had snuck onto Berk hoping to find some way to find something to use against Stoick like a hostage or something. The fact that they caught Hiccup would make things very easy for the Outcasts. Feeling somewhat victorious over their venture to Berk, one of the Outcasts pulled out some rope to tie up and gag Hiccup.

However, as he began to approach her, the entire group began to hear several sinister whispering sound from all around them. Slowly, these whispering sounds turned more and more menacing until the group began to here a loud screeching approaching them from an unknown direction.

All of them had weapons drawn and Savage was still holding onto Hiccup, with the Outcasts wondering what that noise was and why it sounded like something from hell itself. Hiccup already knew what it was and began to feel herself tremble. She didn't know what would happen but she did know it would get violent.

In a matter of seconds, the Outcasts got their answer as one of the trees in the clearing exploded from its roots with a purple explosion and a blue winged figure shooting out of the ground not a moment later.

It didn't take long for Draven to start feeling his body burn under the sun's light and so got to work. Surveying the area, he quickly saw Hiccup and the four Outcasts. The mere sight of this sent his rage to new limits and let out a spine chilling screech before diving at his targets.

The first Outcast was still struggling to unsheathe his sword but kept fumbling from fear. Draven tackled this first one with a force strong enough to break some of his ribs and send them both flying several meters from the others. Draven then grabbed the Outcast by the arm and repeatedly smashed him into the ground until nearly half his bones were crushed.

'One down.' Draven thought as he felt his strength dwindling by the second. Turning back to the group, he let out another screech as he began to charge again. As he began to sprint to the group, the second Outcast pulled out a crossbow and fired a bolt at Draven.

In quick response, Draven unsheathed his own sword and sliced the arrow out of the air. He then closed the distance to the second Outcast and split his crossbow clean in two. Half a second later, he swiped the blunt end of his blade at the Outcast, stunning him. Draven then saw the third Outcast charging at him out the corner of his eye.

Draven reacted by grabbing the stunned Outcast and hurling him at the third with such a force that both got knocked out as they flew out of the clearing.

This was a side Hiccup had never seen before. Sure she knew the Wraith was aggressive but what she'd never seen was him actively trying to maim/hurt somebody. She'd only ever seen him tackle people and dragons to stop them from getting hurt or killing each other.

Out of panic, Savage pushed Hiccup to the side and pulled out his own sword to attack the Wraith. He tried to attack from behind but as he brought his sword over for a strike, the Wraith turned in a flash and caught the blade in his other hand.

What Savage found near impossible with this was that the Wraith was barely half his size and yet he could not push his sword down onto the small dragon. It was simply too strong. Draven then used his Fireworm ability and began to heat up his left hand, causing Savage's sword to glow bright orange.

Feeling himself grow weaker with exposure to sunlight, Draven decided to wrap things up and get rid of the Outcasts. Just as Savage let go of his sword from the burning pain, Draven shoved him back with enough of his strength to cause the Outcast to fall down. Discarding the Outcast sword as well as sheathing his own, he approached Savage and grabbed his throat, pushing down into the ground.

Looking up to the mutant Wraith, Savage saw the small dragon lean it's head down to his, letting out a deep and threatening growl. He was expecting the Wraith to kill him but what it did made his entire being freeze from fear completely.

"This is the part where you run away." he heard the dragon growl out with his eyes burning with a need to kill.

Lifting the Outcast up by the neck, he hurled him across the clearing to his other three comrades where the two that were knocked out began to wake up. All tree quickly grabbed their injured member and made a hasty retreat from the area to the other side of the island where their boat was.

Hiccup watched as the Wraith stayed close to her with a sort of protective stance and stayed like that until the Outcasts were completely gone from sight. She also began to notice how the Wraith's body was steaming as well as losing its glow entirely, turning from blue skin to grey skin.

Draven felt as though his body weighed a thousand times more and his whole body burned with an immense pain. Turning back to the tunnel entrance, he tried to trudge his way over to the safety of the shadows.

Hiccup stood up and backed away slowly, still unsure of what was going on. She would have turned and ran towards the village had she not see the Wraith collapse to the ground just short of the tunnel. She saw how he was straining to reach the darkness of the underground and groaning from the pain of solar exposure. It reminded her almost of the Night Fury when he was laying in the forest wrapped in bolas, hurt and vulnerable. "What am I doing?" Hiccup muttered as she slowly walked back to the Wraith.

Rolling over onto his back, he gazed into the vast blue ocean that was the sky. He didn't have the strength to make the final five meters to the tunnel entrance and get out of the light. He didn't even have the strength left to revert to human form and get his dragon form out of the light that way. He simply lay his head back and visualised Hiccup's face. If he was to die here, at least it was from saving her. So long as she was safe, he could rest easy. He slowly shut his eyes and waited for his body to combust but was awoken by the feeling of two hands grabbing him under his arms and dragging him off. In a few seconds, Hiccup shoved him down into the tunnel where he rolled into the shadows.

It didn't take long for his luminescent glow to return and for him to try and stand again. Surging his energy several times, he quickly healed the burn marks that had formed over both the soft and hard areas of his skin. Hiccup was curious once more and leaned on the edge, not realising that the ground at the tunnel entrance was unstable from the plasma blast earlier.

The ground beneath her gave way and she fell into the hole with the Wraith. She didn't tumble as far as he did and stayed within the sunlit area, where she tried to stay in while sitting with her knees up and arms around her legs as she pressed against the wall leading up to the surface.

Tuning around to the sound of the tumble, Draven saw Hiccup sitting there with some level of fear in her eyes. She still knew Wraiths as vicious monsters who killed without mercy. It was a Wraith that made her lose her friend all those years ago. 'No time like the present Draven' he thought to himself as he decided it was time.

Raising his hands in a friendly gesture, he slowly began to walk over to Hiccup who almost looked like she was trying to dig herself into the back wall by how hard she was leaning.

"It's okay Hiccup." she heard it say, leaving her with widening eyes. She knew it could speak but she didn't think it was fluent. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." she heard it say again as it reached the edge of the sunlit area.

Draven saw her breathing quicken from her fear and knew what he had to do to her her to stop. He took the final step into the light where he crouched down and extended his right hand out to caress her cheek. "I would NEVER hurt you." he said in as soothing a voice he could say in his dragon form.

With the contact on her cheek, Hiccup eyes slowly shut as she felt that warming comfort she'd always known for the past five years as well as remembering all the fun times she'd had with Draven when they were kids.

Suddenly it all clicked and all the pieces of the puzzle were in place. How Draven originally disappeared, how the Wraith behaved, how Hood was always such and understanding character, all of it.

Upon the realisation her emerald eyes flew open and met with the crimson eyes of the dragon still in front of her. "D...Dra...Draven?" Hiccup stuttered out, earning a drop of the head from Draven as he retracted his hand and backed into the shadows to allow his dragon side to fully heal his wounds.

Hiccup stood up and took a slow step towards the edge of the shadow as she hopefully asked "Draven? Is it really you?"

Draven had his back turned and head down as he tried to prepare himself. Taking a breath and exhaling, he clenched his right hand and surrounded himself in a dark smoke again, turning him back into human form.

Slowly, he pulled his hood off, revealing his snow white hair and turned to face the one person he cared about in the world. Hiccup looked up to him as the light from above revealed his face. She could see that there was a visible scar going over his left eye as well as both his eyes having red irises rather than the brown ones she remembered. She could also see that he had several blackened veins going along the right side of his neck up to his ear. Other than those, she could see that the teenager in front of her was Draven through and through.

"I had always hoped I'd find a way to make myself truly normal once more before you'd see me again." Draven weakly said to break the silence. "But that's not the life I was given. It was the one I was allowed to imagine."

Feeling shamed that he had to let Hiccup see him like this, he took a step back and was about to head back into the tunnels to go home. Hiccup saw him take the step back and quickly closed the gap between them, pulling Draven into a tight embrace. Draven tensed for a moment before returning the hug.

The tunnel was quiet for a time as the two stood there in silence until Hiccup pulled back and punched Draven in the gut. "Ugh, and that?" Draven said as he looked at Hiccup. She was glaring at him as she shouted "Where were you? You just disappeared all those years ago. Why did you leave?"

Draven replied by undoing his coats four straps and taking it off, followed by pulling back the right sleeve of his shirt. He revealed to Hiccup his entire right arm in its mutated state. "There was no way for me to stay. By getting infected by the real Wraith for nine seconds, it's venom bonded with me and turned me into a hybrid. BELIEVE me Hiccup, I wish I could have stayed, but there was simply no way I could."

"But why the lies Draven? Why didn't you tell me?" Hiccup questioned with tears beginning to form in her eyes. Letting out a sigh, Draven answered "Hiccup, you know the people on this island. How would they have reacted had I just land in the plaza atop a Skrill and announce 'Hi everyone, it's me Draven. I didn't die, I became a human/dragon hybrid and I'm a dragon sympathizer now. Do you mind if I live here again?'"

Hiccup's lack of an answer was the answer. The people of Berk would have gone crazy and either banished him for simply being a monster of killed him on the spot. "I'm sorry Hiccup." Draven said again while putting his coat back on and fastening it.

Both were pulled from their thoughts as they heard a grumbling sound above them. Looking up, the saw the curious sapphire eyes of a Skrill staring down at them. Rolling his eyes at his dragon, Draven grabbed Hiccup by the waist and lunged out of the dark tunnel.

Landing topside, Draven looked to the sky and saw that some storm clouds would be rolling in soon, but his thought were interrupted by his Skrill companion. "Well telling her sure took you long enough."

If looks could kill, Violet would be ten foot under in ten different graves from the daggers Draven was glaring at her. Not only was Hiccup nearly caught by Outcasts, but he was almost killed by solar exposure trying to save Hiccup.

"So how did you two meet?" Draven heard Hiccup ask. Draven looked back to her and replied "Five years ago the day the Wraith attacked. After it infected me and flew off, it went to the far side of the island where it found Violet and her mother. Out of pleasure, he slaughtered her mother in front of her. When I reached that side of the island, I found her as well as a small beached fishing ship. I took her with me and set sail into the world." Hiccup looked at the Skrill and hybrid as they stood next to each other and asked "So you two have been friend ever since?"

"That's somewhat debatable right now." Draven dryly answered as he looked back to his dragon.

There was still something that was bothering Hiccup. "So after all these years, why come back?" she asked the hybrid. Draven took a breath and answered "Several reasons. One: we have grown tired of this mindless bloodshed between viking and dragon and we're trying to stop it. Two: we know that the Wraith will return to Berk one day and when that day comes, we'll be waiting."

Draven paused as he took a step closer to Hiccup and continued "I however have a third reason." while he extended his hand out to her cheek once more. Upon contact, Hiccup's eyes closed as she leaned her face into his dragon hand, feeling the warm comfort it gave her. "I promised I'd come back for you Hiccup. You were my best friend all those years ago and I would always watch over you. I wish I could of stayed five years ago but I bettered myself from that day. I'll never leave you again." he said to her soothingly.

As Hiccup opened her eyes, he almost lost himself in them. He saw how a spark of light began to flicker in her eyes and slowly she began to smile. That radiant smile he missed so much.

For a while, all was quiet as the two gazed into each others eyes. For Draven, he was just glad that Hiccup was taking this so well. He'd always thought she'd might reject him on this day for what he had become but here she was, smiling and gazing into his own eyes. For Hiccup, well she was just beyond happy that her childhood friend was here, standing in front of her. Part of her wondered if all of this was just a dream. If so, she wished she's never wake from it.

The moment was broken by Draven when he got an idea. He glanced back to Violet who was still sitting behind before looking back to Hiccup with a smile. "Come on. I want to show you something." he said as he pulled her to Violet.

Hiccup had a questioning look on her face and was wondering what he was doing. He mounted his dragon and then extended his hand out for her to climb aboard. Hiccup was hesitant at first but eventually grabbed his hand and sat behind him. "Hold on." he said to her as he patted Violet behind the head for her to take did so and took off gently as not to scare Hiccup.

Draven guided Violet by the saddle rails and the Skrill began flying above the clouds and into the vast open sky. Hiccup was in awe as they flew in and out of the clouds which seemed to just part as they flew through them. This an almost magical moment for Hiccup. Between her friend returning, and the flight on the back of a dragon with her friend, she nearly did believe it was all a dream.

The three flew for about an hour as they circled the island while flying above and below the cloud bank. Hiccup enjoyed the mix of the warm sunlight as well as the cool moisture of the clouds. Looking over his shoulder, Draven could see the awe in Hiccup's eyes as she saw the world from up on high. This was the world Draven fell in love with five years ago, and it was the world he wanted to give to her.

Eventually the sun began to set, to which the storm began to move in on the village. Motioning the saddle rails, Draven sent Violet into a gentle dive and landed in the clearing just behind Hiccup's house, using the cover of darkness the encroaching storm was providing to their advantage.

Both dismounted and Draven walked Hiccup to her home's back door. "Well, good night." Draven said to her as he took one final gaze at her memorizing eyes and smile. Hiccup answered by giving him a light punch on his shoulder. After giving her a confused look, Hiccup answered "That's for the last five years."

Draven rolled his eyes slightly but as he looked back to Hiccup, she stepped up to him and kissed him on the cheek. "That's for...everything else." she finished before entering her home.

Draven simply stared at her back door even after it had shut. Letting out a long sigh of relief, he had never felt so relaxed in a long time. Walking back to his dragon, he noticed the sly expression she had on her face. "Well... Out with it lover boy." she said with a grin.

Draven was still a bit irritated from her escapade from earlier and rolled his eyes as he mounted her while saying "Well right now, you can forget it. Hiccup almost got captured and I almost died, so I'm not saying the words Violet."

"So mellow dramatic." Violet snickered as she took to the sky.

...

Gobber and the other teens as well as most of what was left of the village was in the great hall having dinner when Hiccup soon joined them. It had just started to rain when she reached the doors of the hall but she got into the hall before the rain began to he heavier.

"Alright. Where did Andor go wrong in the ring today?" Gobber asked the group.

"I mistimed my summersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble." Andor answered like a soldier.

"Yeah, we noticed." Tuffnut sarcastically replied.

"No, no, you were great. That was so "Andor"." Snotlout said, trying to get on Andor's good side so he can be friends with the tough guy.

"She's right, you have to be tough on yourselves. Where did Hiccup go wrong?" The smith asked.

"Uh, she showed up?" Ruffnut mocked

"She didn't get eaten." Tuffnut blurted out. Even though he'd was with Snotlout on trying to hit on Hiccup sometimes, this is Tuffnut we're talking about. The idea of someone -even Hiccup- getting injured was normal for him

"She's never where she should be." Andor corrected. As much as he was drawn to Hiccup and liked her somewhat, he had to put in his say if Hiccup was to ever get better at dragon training. "Thank you, Andor." Gobber said to the blonde boy.

Hiccup was walking past them and grabbed a piece of chicken when she noticed her cousin trying to gesture for her to sit next to him whilst trying to act tough. Ignoring him, she made her way to the other table.

It was at this moment that everyone couldn't help but notice that Hiccup was smiling from ear to ear and had a radiant look in her eyes, as if she didn't have a care in the world. Andor was the first to ask "You seem, different. Something on your mind?" Hiccup kept staring into space as she sat down by the opposite table and replied "That's for me to know."

Pulling their attention back to the topic of dragon training, Gobber pulled out the book of dragons from his belt to show give to the teens. "You need to live and breathe this stuff. The Dragon Manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of." he said as he placed the book on the table for the teens.

After hearing the storm outside intensify, Gobber said to the group after a yawn "No attacks tonight. Study up."

"Wait, you mean read?" Tuffnut questioned

"While we're still alive?" Ruffnut whined

"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" Snotlout stupidly stated while hitting his chicken bones together INA somewhat violent manner.

Fishlegs usually got a tad over excited about the book amd began to spew out "Oh! I've read it like, seven times. There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face. And there's this other one that buries itself for like a week..."

"Yeah, that sounds great. See, there was a chance I was going to read that..." Tuffnut interrupted with an uncaring tone of voice.

"... but, now..." Ruffnut trailed before she and her brother got up to go home.

"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." Snotlout gloated as he got up to leave, still trying to act like he was the one everyone should look up to.

"Oh, and there's this other one that has these spines that look like trees..." Fishlegs continued to rant as he followed them.

"So I guess we'll share?" Hiccup asked Andor in a friendly gesture. After hearing about the book, she became eager to see what information it held within its pages.

Andor was slightly nervous around Hiccup from time to time and felt he might possibly embarrass himself with his crush for her. "Read it." he said as he pushed the book to her and got up to leave. Right now, he just didn't know what to say to her.

"All mine then." Hiccup said to herself as she took the book and sat down to begin reading it, ignoring the teens as they all left the great hall.

About twenty minutes later, Hiccup was alone in the hall as she lit some candles for light and some warm yak milk for a drink.

Opening the book, she read it's introduction page. "Dragon classifications. Strike Class, Fear Class, Mystery Class."

Turning several pages at once she came upon the pictures of a dragon with an abnormally large mouth. "Thunderdrum: This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

Turning the pages again, she came upon a dragon that looked like a snake with bladed wings. "Timberjack: This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

"Scauldron: Sprays scalding water at its victim. Extremely dangerous. Changewing: Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight. Gronckle, Zippleback, The Skrill, Boneknapper, Whispering Death. Burns its victims, buries its victims, chokes its victims, turns its victims inside-out. Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous, kill on sight, kill on sight, kill on sight..."

That seemed to be the only thing that the book could say about all dragons. By the way Bork had written about them, he was almost convinced that all dragons were demons that had to be put down.

Yet what of the Night Fury that let her live. What of the Terror that Draven had tamed and was housing to deliver letters. What of Draven's Skrill which seemed to have an almost playful nature.

Speaking of Night Fury, Hiccup turned to the final page. "Night Fury: Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you."

If anything, the book was completely useless. From what she had experienced over the last two days contradicted everything the book said.

Beginning to feel tired from the long day's events, Hiccup closed the book and doused the candles. She wanted to know more about dragons but mainly, she wanted to know more about the Night Fury. Feeling guilt for rendering him flightless, she wanted to try and make amends. "Maybe I'll go back there tomorrow." she said to herself as she left the hall and made her way home.


	6. Chapter 6: Bonding

I'm very sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I'll try my hardest to make sure it doesn't happen again.

* * *

><p>As the teens were following Gobber to the area, which he had spent since early in the morning preparing for the days lesson. The teens and Gobber also couldn't help but notice Hiccup's rather calm mood, as if nothing was wrong in the world.<p>

"You seem rather cheerful Hiccup. Something on your mind?" Fishlegs asked her. Coming out of her trance, Hiccup giggled slightly before answering "Oh, it's nothing. Just found some other stuff to help me take my mind off things."

The group eventually reached the arena where the teens entered to find a mesh of walls about the area creating a maze. Gobber however stayed outside by the edge of the ring where he noticed Hood approaching the area. "Mind if I watch?" Hood asked Gobber.

The smith simply replied "Aye, you can watch. Though I wasn't exactly expecting to see you here at the arena. Some people have rumored that you hate this place." Reaching the edge of the ring where Gobber was, Hood answered back "You know, most rumors always start with the words 'I thought'. As an old friend use to tell me; you know what 'I thought' did. Don't be so quick to make up stories."

Nodding at his answer which seemed like a fare one to the smith, Gobber made his way to the one lever on the side of the ring that opened up the Nadder cage. As the spiked blue and yellow dragon came out of its cage, it immediately began sniffing the surrounding area in search of its prey.

The teens scattered throughout the maze whilst Hiccup stayed close to the area where Gobber was. Looking up, she noticed Draven standing nearby watching everything in the arena. A small smile formed on her face as she looked at her hooded friend.

Turning back to Gobber, she asked her mentor "You know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies. Is there another book? Or a sequel? Maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet?"

Suddenly just as she was speaking, the Nadder's magnesium flame burned right past her and incinerated the end of her axe. "WHOA!" she let out in shock.

"Focus, Hiccup! You're not even trying!" Gobber scolded to her lack of paying attention. The Nadder was standing on top of one of the maze walls as it tried to chase Hiccup but quickly lost her and chased the other teens.

"Today is all about ATTACK!" the smith announced to the teens. "Nadders are quick and light on their feet! Your job is to be quicker and lighter!"

"AAAAAH! I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" Fishlegs screamed out as he raised his shield to block some of the Nadder poisoned spines it fired at him. "I would too." Gobber heard Hood quietly say.

"Look for its blind spot." Gobber advised them. "Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it, and strike!"

As Gobber was telling the group this, Ruffnut and Tuffnut turned a corner in the maze and walked straight into the Nadder, barely standing an inch from its snout. With the Nadder's sideward facing eyes, she couldn't was unable to see the twins in front of her who were trying to stay as still as possible. "Ugh! Do you ever bathe?" Ruffnut whispered in disgust as she began to smell her brother. "If you don't like it, then just get your own blind spot." Tuffnut shouted back to his sister.

"How about I give you one?!" Ruffnut shouted back as she and her brother were batting heads again, almost completely unaware that they were alerting the dragon right in front of them.

Hearing of take in a breath, they glanced over in time to see it about to fire a magnesium steam at them. Both quickly jumped in opposite directions to dodge the fore stream and ran back into the maze to lose the Nadder.

"Blind spot, yes. Deaf spot? Not so much." Gobber commented as he rolled his eyes at the twins stupidity.

Making her way back to the area where Gobber was, Hiccup was having trouble trying to contain her curiosity. Ignoring the dragon roaming about the arena attacking everyone, she asked her mentor "Hey, so how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?"

"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. NOW, GET IN THERE!" Gobber said with a bit of frustration. He always knew Hiccup to be the kind of person who couldn't wait to become a dragon slayer. Now here she is, in dragon training, not taking it seriously. All she ever seemed to do is go on about Night Furies.

"I know, I know, but hypothetically-" Hiccup said in a somewhat apologetic tone.

She was cut short as she heard Andor behind her 'shout a whisper'. "Hiccup! Get down!" he said with Snotlout behind him, both gesturing for her to stay close and stay low.

Seeing the Nadder ahead of them searching for her prey, she stayed low and followed the two other boys. The three crept around the Nadder trying to get some distance between them until the reached a maze path with the Nadder just ahead.

Dive rolling out of cover, Andor and Snotlout moved to the other side of the corridor without being noticed. Hiccup tried to do the same but was not strong enough to pull her shield along with her as she rolled, stopping her right in the middle of the path and attracting the dragon.

As fast as she could, Hiccup got up and ran through the maze to get away from the attacking Nadder. As she was running, Andor and Snotlout jumped out of cover to defend Hiccup from the dragon whilst also trying to impress her.

Andor raised his axe and prepared to strike the Nadder as it would get close, but her was shoved to the side as Snotlout stepped forward. "Watch out, bro. I'll take care of this." he gloated as he tossed his hammer at the Nadder. His gloat was premature as his hammer went nowhere near the Nadder as it hit the maze wall and fell to the ground.

Glancing over his shoulder, Snotlout could see how Andor was glaring at him for not only his stupidity, but the fact that he got in the way. "The sun was in my eyes, Andor. What do you want me to do, block out the sun? I could do that, but I don't have time right now!" he was saying to the blonde viking as they were running away from the blue dragon.

Turning a tight corner, the Nadder lost her footing and slammed into one of the maze walls, causing the entire structure to come down domino style. "Someone's gonna get hurt like this Gobber!" the smith and teacher heard the hooded teenager scold next to him.

Hiccup however had snuck back to Gobber to continue asking her questions. "They probably take the daytime off. You know, like a cat. Has anyone ever seen one napping?" she asked, almost completely oblivious to the carnage behind her. Made worse by the fact that the domino was headed straight for her.

"Hiccup!" Gobber screamed to warn her.

Andor was trying to out run the domino and get to a safe zone and so inevitably leapt over the one wall not realising Hiccup was on the other side. "HICCUP!" Andor shouted in shock and surprise but also to warn her as he came down on top of her with axe in hand.

With a loud thud, Hiccup and Andor hit the ground with arms and legs tangled and Andor's axe wedged in Hiccup's shield. Hiccup also couldn't help but feel a painful stinging sensation on her forearm right where Andor's axe had gone through.

"Oooh! Love on the battlefield!" Tuffnut shouted from behind one of the fallen walls as he saw Hiccup and Andor in their predicament.

"He could do better." Ruffnut added next to her brother referring to Andor.

Draven was cringing and tensing at everything he was seeing. If this was how viking got trained to fight dragons, it was a wonder they even lasted for 300 years. Most of all, he cringed when he saw the wall collapse near Hiccup and Andor come down atop her. At first, he was willing to maintain control of himself and continue watching, but it was the scent of Hiccup's blood that changed that.

"Just... let me... why don't you..." Hiccup was saying as she was trying push Andor off of her, feeling a bit violated and get him to stop yanking on the axe. Draven couldn't watch this go on anymore. When he saw the Nadder climb out of the debris, he shouted to Gobber "I'm ending this."

Gobber turned to him and saw the hooded teen climb through the bars of the arena roof. Barely a second later, everyone saw Hood lunge across the arena at the Nadder, landing on her head and slamming it into the ground. What they didn't see was what Hood pulled out of his inner pocket just before he lunged at the dragon.

As the dragon hit the ground from the force of the impact, Draven held his one hand close to her snout. Taking in the smell, the Nadder went into a calm daze and discreetly ate the small amount of dragon nip that was in the boys hand.

"Get back into your pen. Now!" the Nadder heard the boy whisper to her in her own language. "You speak dragon?" she asked curiously but she got her answer as she took in the smell of this human. His scent was generally associated with one other dragon species; Wraiths.

With her calm mood now and some level of fear, she retreated into her pen and curled up in the corner. Everyone was somewhat in awe at what they watched. All Hood did was tackle the dragons head into the ground and have a stare down with her and she retreated.

Tuning back to Andor and Hiccup, Draven began to hastily march towards the two. Reaching them, he grabbed Andor by the back of his shirt and yanked him off of Hiccup. Andor was pushed back a few meters and Draven knelt down by Hiccup's side to examine her.

With the stinging in her arm and all the commotion around, Hiccup's eyes were closed most of the time. With everything around quietening down, she opened her eyes to see Draven looming over her. "Hold still." he said to her calmly.

Hiccup saw that he was trying to get the axe and shield off her arm so he could check her wound. Bracing herself, Draven pulled the axe out with almost no effort and gently removed the shield from her arm. Examining the wound after he carefully rolled her sleeve back, he saw the cut was shallow but had decent length along her forearm and some blood was flowing.

Pulling out a blue vial from the inside of his coat, he opened it and poured some of its contents over the wound. At first Hiccup cringed at the contact but the pain and burning nearly instantaneously subsided and was replaced with a cooling sensation. Looking to her arm, Hiccup saw that the blood was already clotting and the cut was slowly but noticeably sealing.

"Is this some kind of a joke to you?!" Hiccup and Draven heard Andor shout as he was walking up to the two. As he was about to continue, Draven got up and quickly closed the gap between them at an almost inhuman speed. Grabbing Andor by the front of his collar, Draven shouted back "You, shut up!" whilst shoving Andor back. Gobber as well as the other teens were taken aback from Hood's outburst.

"You almost just took off Hiccup's arm." Draven shouted at the blonde viking boy. "Who ever said curiosity was a crime." he added, referring to Hiccup and her questions. Turning his head slightly over his shoulder to Hiccup he said in a less intimidating tone and more of an advisory one "Granted, Hiccup you could have had better timing."

Turning back to Andor on the floor he pointed towards him and finished "But you. You just shut your gob. You've become so crazed with swinging that axe of yours and killing dragons that you almost cut off Hiccup's arm."

Andor got up and was about to aggressively walk over to Hood who was turning back to Hiccup and scold on about how Hiccup shouldn't have been asking questions and should have been trying to kill a dragon. Draven could almost sense Andor's intentions and stopped him on his tracks by discharging three throwing knives and throwing them at Andor's feet, pegging perfectly into the stone floor.

Something suddenly felt different in the arena, as if a cold unnatural chill came in that made the hair on the back of everyone's necks stand up. Gobber, Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins and Andor could literally feel the aura Hood was giving off. It almost felt like an aura of pure evil and none dared say anything else. They might not have been able to see Hood's face but it was probably for the best. Who knew what look would be in his eyes.

They had never seen Hood have an outburst and they always thought of him as the kind of guy who would avoid conflict at all costs. They didn't think he'd carry around throwing knives and have lethal accuracy. One centimeter over and the knife would have taken off Andor's toes. Also, they knew Hood and Hiccup were friends to some degree but Hood was acting extremely protective of her at this moment. Did they have a connection going on?

Hiccup meanwhile looked back to her arm and saw the cut was almost fully healed and the scar was disappearing fast. Not wanting to arouse suspicion, she pulled her sleeve back down to conceal her forearm as Draven went back to her side. Helping her to her feet, he looked up and said to Gobber "I'll take care of her." whilst leading her away from the arena, leaving everyone with icy chills down their backs and blank expressions on their faces.

...

Leaving the arena area and going in the direction of the forest and Draven's home, Hiccup looked at her arm and gasped when when saw there was absolutely no evidence at all that an axe had gone through it earlier. "You may have to bandage that arm anyway so people don't ask questions." she heard Draven say to her.

"What was that? Was that the same stuff you gave me the other day?" Hiccup asked the hooded teen as they were walking. She'd never seen anything heal a wound so quickly. "Aye." Draven answered. "It's my own mix of different herbs, algae, and even a bit off my own essence."

After seeing the shocked look in Hiccup's eyes' Draven said again reassuringly "Don't worry, you're not going to turn into a Wraith or anything. That can only happen through pure Wraith venom from a Wraith. Hell, I don't even have venom glands so I couldn't infect somebody even if I wanted to."

As they continued their walk and with Hiccup continually staring at her healed forearm, Draven said to Hiccup "Ya know, you could have just saved those questions on dragons for later and ask me. I have after all been learning about them and I am one."

"I know, I'm sorry." Hiccup said with her head low. "I don't know what came over me, but I just couldn't help myself. Ever since I met that Night Fury, found out about you and read the book of dragons last night, I haven't been able to stop thinking that maybe everything we vikings know is wrong."

Reaching the forest line, Draven removed his mask and looked to Hiccup with a raised eyebrow. "Maybe?" he said questioningly. He knew that everything vikings know about dragons IS wrong. Moving deeper into the woods, Draven said to Hiccup "So. What exactly has you so interested in that Night Fury?"

Hiccup was quiet for a moment until she answered "I don't really know. I guess I feel kind of guilty for rendering him grounded and I want to try help him anyway I can."

When Draven looked into her eyes however, he could see there was something else on her mind as well. "That it? You look as though there's something else involved as well." Draven said to her as they began to near his home.

Hiccup looked up to the sky as she remembered the previous day when Draven took her around the island on the back of his Skrill. Draven looked back to her and saw that she was looking to the sky with wonder in her eyes and he could tell what she was thinking. With a slight smirk forming on his lips, he broke the silence between the two. "You want to be his rider don't you?" he said to her as they left the treeline and into the clearing in front if his home.

Hiccup felt somewhat embarrassed at the thought. Her? A dragon rider? Not only was the idea of a viking riding a dragon insane but this was Hiccup. She'd always seen herself as the village screw up who would never amount to anything special. She knew that with her current place in society, she'd never be more than the 'pretty face blacksmith'. Rule of Berk would most likely go to Andor her her cousin in years to come so why would she think herself special in any way.

When Draven saw her head drop at the idea, he felt somewhat of a sting in his heart. This wasn't the Hiccup he knew when they were younger. She was always the adventurous one, not him. She was the one who saw the world with wonder, not him. She was the one who started their friendship when they were five and six and got him out of his introvertive shell. She didn't give herself enough credit.

Draven could read what she was thinking from her facial expression. "I once felt the same way you feel right now. I saw myself as weak, helpless, and insignificant. But look what I did with my life. I took control and mastered the Wraith venom that courses through my veins, I learned multiple fighting styles, Violet and I became a riding team and we're trying to stop the war."

Taking a step closer and placing his hands on her shoulders, he continued "It matters not what others think of you. You think I care that the people in the village call me a lying recluse? Of course not. All that matters is what we choose to do with our lives." Hiccup's head was still somewhat low. Draven raised her chin where their eyes met and he continued "I've been watching you Hiccup. Stoick is right when he says you're not a dragon killer, but that's because you are so much more than that. Everything happens for a reason and I believe you were meant to shoot down that Night Fury. I believe you were meant to set him free and I believe your fates are linked."

Hiccup pondered that last part for a moment. "What do you mean 'linked'." she asked curiously. Draven let go of her and turned to Violet who was poking her head out of her stable. Draven answered "The bond between dragon and human is strongest when both sides reflect one another. Just look and Violet and me. We both lost our parents to the Wraith and we both have a lot in common, right down to our sarcasm."

Looking back to Hiccup, Draven asked her "So tell me. When you looked into that Night Fury's eyes, what did you see? What did you feel?" Hiccup turned around and paced back and forth as she remembered the two times she encountered the black strike-class dragon.

Facing the hybrid once more, she answered "When I looked into his eyes, I could see he was as frightened as I was. When I looked into his eyes, I saw myself." That was all Draven needed to hear. Walking over to the stable and pulling a cod out of a basket, he took it to Hiccup and said to her "Well then. If that Night Fury really is a reflection of you, then let's find out."

Hiccup looked at him wide eyed and was a bit hesitant. "Wait, what? You mean try befriend a Night Fury?" Handing her the fish, Draven answered "Why not? I befriended a Skrill. You known how hard that is? Who knows, you might even enjoy it."

Slowly taking the fish whilst being partially conflicted, Draven reassuringly said to her "I'll stay nearby and make sure everything will be alright. Dragon bonding is best done solo."

Hiccup felt nervous at that last part but she trusted Draven. He always looked out for her from when they we're young to now. She believed him. As they walked in the direction of the cove, they passed Draven's forge where Hiccup grabbed a shield lying on the side, just for in case.

...

Draven was outside the cove where he was joined by Violet as they watched Hiccup climb down into the coves narrow entrance.

Carefully walking with the shield facing forwards, Hiccup accidentally wedged the shield between the two boulders of the coves entrance. "Oh great." she quietly muttered to herself as she crept under the shield with fish in hand.

Still slightly concealed in the rocks, she tossed the fish into the cove to see if the Night Fury would react. After a few seconds of pure silence, Hiccup saw there was absolutely no movement in the cove. Carefully stepping forward, she picked up the fish and heard a grumbling sound behind her.

Turning around, she saw him. The Night Fury was perched on a large boulder and was eyeing her. Slowly, he climbed down the boulder and carefully approached her. "So you decided to come inside today." the dragon said as he stared at her whilst also noticing Violet and somebody else outside the cove. Looking at this second human, he could see the boys right arm had strange features to it. 'That must be the Human-Wraith Violet mentioned.' he thought as he stepped towards Hiccup.

Slowly, he inched his way towards her one step at a time until he was only three feet from her. He stopped when he saw something glisten in the sunlight on her belt. "Is that a KNIFE? Why did you bring that in here? Get rid of it!" he growled as he backed away and showed his teeth whilst having his eyes turn to slits.

Cautiously, she pulled the blade out earning a loud growl from the dragon and a facepalm from Draven above who was still watching. Hiccup dropped the blade to the ground to try and show the dragon she meant well. "I said get rid of it, not drop it." the dragon said again with a gesture of his head to the side. Picking up the blade with her foot, Hiccup kicked it into the waters.

With the blade gone, the Night Fury's body language quickly changed from one of hostile to one of curiosity as well as his eyes dilating. Leaning in towards the fish, he opened his mouth to take it only for Hiccup to see he had no teeth. "Huh. Toothless. I could've sworn you had..."

In the space of nearly a second, the Night Fury extended his teeth and snatched the fish put of Hiccup's hands, gobbling it up in a heartbeat. "Teeth." Hiccup stated in shock with her hands close to herself.

Looking back to her inquisitively, he tried to walk closer to Hiccup. The girl responded by backing away out of caution until she tripped and leaned back against a rock. "Uh, uh, no, no, no. I-I don't have any more." she was saying with hands raised to try and not come across as food for the dragon.

The Night Fury's head was leaning over Hiccup now, and Hiccup began to hear what sounded like gagging coming from the dragon. After a few gags, the dragon coughed up the tail end of the fish into Hiccup's lap. "Ugh" Hiccup quietly commented.

Leaning back, the dragon sat on his hind legs and watched Hiccup with wide eyes. Hiccup's eyes kept trailing back and forth between the dragon and the cod until she saw the dragon do a gesture with his head at the fish. "That piece is yours." he said. 'Oh great, I guess it's dragon custom to share food. If it's how I get his trust...' Hiccup thought as she let out a sigh and prepared to try eat the cod.

Taking a slow and regrettably sizable bite out of the fish, she immediately felt her stomach churn and the need to throw up. 'Just hold it in Hiccup. Wait for him to look away.' she thought to herself, not wanting to swallow the bite out of the raw fish.

The dragon however was not looking away but continued to stare at Hiccup curiously. "Well, what's wrong. Swallow it." he said with a gulp sound. Hiccup murmured and slumped but knew she had no choice this was the only way she could chain the dragon's trust. Forcefully she gulped and had to try her hardest to resist the urge to throw up but she managed to get the piece of fish down.

The dragon tilted his head to the side. He found it interesting how this young girl would be so willing to give him food as well as accept the food back, as is dragon customs. Hiccup let a small smile form on her face. She too was intrigued by how this dragon behaved, almost as if it was trying to befriend her.

The dragon saw her smile and tried to mimic her, slowly curling his lips up until all Hiccup could see was a gummy smile. "Do you have a name?" she asked him with her head tilted. The dragon stopped smiling and lowered his head slightly. After shaking his head, Hiccup said again "How about...Toothless?"

The dragon looked back to her with wide eyes. He thought about it for a second and actually liked it. He liked how it contradicted the fact that he had a full set of razor teeth but it also leaned towards his better side. Living under the rule of a tyrant at Dragon Island meant that he didn't often show his soft side.

After a nod, Hiccup tried to extend her had to him. "That's it. That's it." Draven quietly chanted to himself as he watched the two below him. Toothless saw her hand get closer and let out a snarl before moving away to the other side of the cove. It wasn't because he didn't like this human, but because he was afraid of what the future might hold of he let one get too close. Hiccup looked up to Draven questioningly as to what to do now. Draven motioned with his hands for her to keep trying.

Reaching the far end, Toothless heated up the ground with his plasma flame and lay down. Hearing some sparrows in the trees above, he looked up to see the birds flying around the tree and chasing each other. What he wouldn't do to be back in the sky again.

As he turned his head however, he saw that Hiccup had moved up and was now sitting cross-legged barely a meter from him. Trying his best to ignore her, Toothless shut his eyes and curled into a ball, blocking the view of the viking girl with his remaining tail fin.

Thinking that this was her chance to get close, Hiccup slowly inched her way forward and extended her hand out to the Night Fury. But at the last inch, Toothless pulled his tail back and saw her trying to touch him. In slight panic, she pulled her hand back, got up and walked away with an apologetic body language. "Ugh, you're persistent girl, I'll give you that." Toothless said as he also got up and moved towards one of the trees were he climbed up to its branch and hung from his tail like a bat.

An hour later, a familiar voice roused Toothless from his sleep. "What, you're not even willing to give her any chance?" the voice said. Opening his eyes and looking in the direction of the voice, he saw Violet perched on the cliff side above him. "It's not that it just... I've never had many friends in my life and I'm not sure on what to do here. I've never met a person like her before, she's so...like me." Toothless answered while he hung upsidedown. "Then let her bond with you." Violet replied. "I admit, I was scarred too when I first bonded with Draven up there but I found that that was the best thing I could have done. He's my best friend and we always look out for each other. Sometimes we argue but isn't that life."

Toothless looked back to Hiccup who was sitting on a rock on the other side of the cove surprisingly. He thought she would have left by now. Dropping down to the ground, he made his way over to where she was sitting.

Hiccup had a small stick with her and was busy sketching out Toothless' face in the dirt. She was about halfway when she felt a heavy breathing sensation behind her. Not wanting to make any sudden moves, Hiccup stayed still whilst continuing to draw Toothless. Once finished, she turned her head over her shoulder to look up to the dragon who in turn kept looking back and forth between her and the drawing. "My turn." he said as he moved off to the side to get a branch.

Hiccup watched somewhat in amazement as he used the branch to try draw...something...in the dirt, twisting and turning around her and accidentally bumping her with the branch. "Sorry." he said with the branch in his mouth as he continued to draw. Eventually he stopped and stepped to the side of the picture to admire his work. "What do you think?" he said to Hiccup.

She kept turning her head side to side as she looked around at the scribble in the dirt. Stepping to her side, she heard Toothless let out a loud menacing growl. Looking down, she saw she stepped on one of his lines. Removing her foot, he stopped growling and his eyes changed from slits to orbs.

With a slight grin, Hiccup stepped on the line a few more tomes to test, earning a growl every time she stepped on it. After three tries, she stepped on the other side and Toothless stopped growling, instead letting out what sounded like a purr.

Step by step, Hiccup inched her way out of the maze with every twist and turn taking her closer to the edge. After several twists, she felt a heavy breath behind over her head and slowly looked up to see Toothless standing a meter from her.

Carefully, Hiccup tried to extend her hand out to touch him, but once again, he growled lowly. Hiccup knew why. She had his trust be he still didn't have her full trust. She'd have to leave it to him.

Looking the other way, she stretched her arm out and left the choice in the hands of the dragon. Slowly, he moved forwards to her hand, only a few centimeters separating the two. With one final lean, his snout made contact with her hand, both cringing at the contact.

Letting out her held breath, Hiccup looked back up to Toothless who in turn opened his own eyes and stared into hers. "Friend." Toothless said before stepping back and moving back to the far side of the cove.

Hiccup was shocked. She just bonded with a dragon and she felt it. She felt the spark when she and Toothless made contact. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she turned to see Draven standing behind her. "He needs some time to think things through. You've done it." he said. "It's getting late. Gobber and the teens might notice your absence."

Hiccup nodded as she followed Draven to the exit. Hiccup went under the wedged shield first whereby Draven stopped just short, taking one last look back to Toothless who was watching them as they were leaving. 'This plan might actually work.' he quietly thought as he followed Hiccup.

Reaching the top and being joined by Violet, Hiccup told Draven without any hesitation "I want to fix his tail." Draven stopped dead in his step and looked at Hiccup with raised eyes. Hiccup continued "I noticed that he's missing a tail fin and he keeps crashing every time he tries to fly and that's my fault. I want to makes things right."

Draven couldn't help but laugh a little as he replied "That's quite a change from making things to kill dragons and wanting to be a slayer." Hiccup smiled as she replied "Yeah well, it's kind of your fault, you dragged me into this."

"MY FAULT!? Who was the one who kept coming out here everyday and stumbled into this." Draven snapped back with a laugh. Hiccup gave him a light punch over his shoulder as they continued to laugh and make their way back to the village.

"But seriously." Hiccup said, breaking their laughing. "I want to help him. I want to get him back in the air." After a moment of silence, Draven answered "What do you suggest? Meet at your forge late tonight to work on a plan?"

"Why can't we use your forge?" Hiccup questioned, knowing nth at his has a lot more privacy. "Mine isn't very well equipped. The only forge on the island we can use us yours." Draven said to her. She knew he was right although this plan was risky. What if someone saw them?

"Okay." Hiccup answered. "Gobber has the other teens and I having dinner on the watchtower tonight. Meet me there later." With a nod from Draven, they reached the split in the pathways between the village and his home. Each went their respective directions to get ready for a long night.

...

"...and with one twist he took my and swallowed it whole. And I saw the look on his face. I was delicious. He must have passed the word, because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg." Gobber was saying to the teens about his old adventures.

"Isn't it weird to think that your hand was inside a dragon? Like if your mind was still in control of it, you could have killed the dragon from the inside by crushing his heart or something." Fishlegs contemplated as an idea.

"I swear, I'm so angry right now!" Snotlout nearly shouted. "I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight, with my face!"

"Un-unh. It's the wings and the tails you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon." Gobber informed them. These word kept on repeating themselves in Hiccup's head and only fueled her need to fix Toothless' tail.

"So Hiccup, where were you most of the day? Have you and Hood got a thing going on?" the group heard Ruffnut ask. Hiccup had to strain not to blush as she quickly answered back (and try to lie) "What!? No, we're just friends. All he did was fix my arm and then he went for a walk around the island. Beside I've seen his face and it's not what you call nice to look at." she said, trying to shake them off her.

"You've seen Hood's face!? What's it look like?" Tuffnut eagerly asked. Hiccup could see a faint blue light in the night sky. Was Draven flying in? Wanting to end this conversation quickly, she answered Tuffnut "Half his nose and part of his jaw is missing and he only has one eye."

She hated having to say that as she knew that in his dragon form, Draven would undoubtedly have heard that. Gobber could see she was getting a bit uncomfortable with the other teens going on about questions with her personal life and interrupted. "Alright. I'm off to bed. You should be, too. Tomorrow we get to the big boys. Slowly but surely making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare. But who'll win the honor of killing it?" he said to the teens, egging them on for training and also allowing Hiccup to get away. He noticed that she didn't want to be in dragon training anymore but he thought it was for her own good, but he did at least allow her to get away from the current conversations.

"It's gonna be me. It's my destiny. See?" Tuffnut gloated, pulling up his shirt to show the side of his torso.

"Your mom let you get a tattoo?" Fishlegs said with a gasp.

"It's not a tattoo. It's a birthmark." Tuffnut snapped back, trying to sound as entitled to killing dragons as he could.

"Okay, I've been stuck with you since birth, and that was never there before." Ruffnut stated, knowing her brother was just being an idiot. Again.

"Yes, it was. You've just never seen me from the left side until now." Tuffnut said back to his sister.

The group hadn't noticed that Hiccup had slipped away. All but Andor, who leaned back on his chair and watched Hiccup make her way down the stairs rather quickly.

The group then heard Snotlout gloat "Better idea than killing the Nightmare. Kill that Wraith." Hiccup heard this and stopped as she was about halfway down the tower. 'Snotlout, for your own good, shut up. He's right above us.' she thought to herself, thinking her cousin was going to get himself hurt. Hiccup knew that Draven did have a temper and didn't take well to threats.

Fishlegs then spoke out rather enthusiastically "Oh, I heard that it can supposedly speak fluently and looks almost exactly like a real person."

"Ah, those are just rumours, Fishlegs." Gobber said to try and calm down the larger teenager.

"Are they?" the group and Hiccup heard come from right above them. Slowly looking up, Gobber and the teens saw a blue glowing, black scaled winged figure lying on top of the overhead cross beam of the tower, gazing up at the sky. "Ya know, whenever there's a rumour it's best to simply go directly to the source for answers.

Rolling to his side, Draven fell off the cross beam and landed right in front of the teens and the smith, just on the edge of the platform. When he landed, the group could feel that their fire wasn't hot anymore but instead radiated cold, is if the Wraith's presence alone caused things to go into flux. The group could also make out a fare amount of his details as he kept his glow to a minimum. He stood with the posture of a normal person and had a flat face rather than an elongated one like most other dragons. They could also see clear as day the sword the Wraith had mounted in some kind of scaly sheathe on the side of his left arm.

"Otherwise you just stumble back and forth in ignorance searching for the truth." he added before leaning back of the edge of the platform whilst shrouding himself in black and purple smoke, disappearing from sight.

Getting nervous that Draven might blow their cover, Hiccup raced to the bottom of the tower where she found Draven without his mask but hood on busy waiting for her. "Are you trying to get is caught!?" Hiccup shouted to Draven in a whisper.

"Relax, just messing with them. They're none the wiser, now are we going to build Toothless his tail or not?" Draven answered with a grin. Rolling her eyes, she made her way to the forge with Draven following from the shadows as not to arouse suspicion.

Reaching the forge, she noticed Draven sneak around back and close to the cliff side. She wondered what he was doing until she saw a shadow stream through the night sky and drop a satchel into Draven's hand.

Turning back and making his way inside the forge, Draven said to Hiccup "Some stuff to help with the tail." Both were in the back room where nobody would see him. Pouring the bag out over the table, Hiccup saw several strangely shaped shiny pieces of metal. Picking one up, it was almost weightless. "What kind of ore is this?" Hiccup asked as she kept staring at and examining the metal. "Gronckle iron." Draven answered. "It's made when Gronckles eat multiple kinds of rocks and barf it up from indigestion. The resulting substance cools into a metal that weighs next to nothing and is almost unbreakable. I make my daggers, armour and some of Violet's saddle pieces from it."

"This might work." Hiccup thought aloud. "We'll work on some blueprints in the meantime while we wait for everyone to go to sleep."

...

One hour later, most if not all of the village was sound asleep. The only light and noise was coming from the forge. Hiccup and Draven had worked together on designing Toothless' new artificial tail. Draven had cut and stitched the leather and working on the joints while Hiccup had smelted and forged the Gronckle Iron rocks into all the connecting rods for the tail.

Mostly, the only sound in the forge was the banging of metal as they slowly put the tail together, joint for joint, rod for rod and flap for flap. Eventually to try make some small talk, Hiccup broke the silence. "So... What was it like... Five years ago? What happened that night?" she nervously asked Draven.

Draven's hands froze on the joints he was assembling as his mind brought up the memories of that fateful day. Hiccup caught the gist if what happened but she was curious and wanted to know more.

Draven started "Two hours after you and everyone went to sleep, the venom within my veins began to take effect. Slowly I felt my body morphing into something else. Slowly I felt my mind slipping away and I felt I was losing myself to the Wraith side. It was less a physical battle to stay as a human and more of a mental battle to keep my sanity. Eventually my entire body burned and I felt more pain than any person should have to experience in ten lifetimes. There isn't a metaphor in all of creation for me to describe it so the best I could describe it would be being set alight from Monstrous Nightmare saliva, dipped in a barrel of Changewing acid, whilst being crushed by a few dozen bladed chains ripping through your body."

Hiccup winced at what Draven was saying. Her mind could barely comprehend what kind of pain his transformation must have caused. He continued "Oh, and those weren't even the worst parts. The worst was when my wings tried to form. That was like have a few hundred blades running through your body but mainly your back. Only difference is that instead of the feeling coming from the outside in like a blade would have done, it was from the inside out. In short, my body felt as though it was ripping itself apart."

Seeing her eyes expressing that of shock, he stopped describing what he felt and continued "Eventually my body began to secret black and purple smoke and I transformed for the first time. The force caused a minor explosion that blasted a hole in the side of the infirmary. When I came around, I could feel that my body was different, as if it was yet wasn't my own. I could also see, hear, smell and even taste everything around me. When I heard people running towards the infirmary, I reacted on fight or flight instinct and ran for the forest. In my semi changed state, it wasn't hard for me to outrun the hunting party."

'So that's how he got away.' Hiccup thought to herself. She then said to Draven "The next morning when I woke up, my cheek felt warm and I felt some kind of comfort from within. Then the other day when you saved me from the outcasts and touched my cheek, I felt that warmth again. Did you come to see me that night you changed?"

Draven looked down for a moment while he was working as he thought about what she said. "I did." Draven answered. "I used the tunnel network to get back into the village and I came to you while you were asleep. I couldn't leave the island without seeing your face one last time, in case I didn't come back. But I made a promise that day. I promised I would come back for you Hiccup because that's what I do."

Finishing the joint he was working on, he took it over to the connecting rod she finished. Standing closer to her, he extended his right hand out to move her hair over her ear and caress her cheek. Hiccup's eyes shut as she smiled while leaning into the comforting warmth it radiated. It was strange somewhat. Wraiths were the embodiment of evil and could literally freeze their environments with their auras alone, and yet here was Draven radiating this warmth from his Wraith side.

"You are the only person left in this world that I care about Hiccup, and I will do everything in my power to make sure you're safe." Draven said softly as emerald eyes gazed into that of crimson.

The two teenagers began to feel a pull between them, as if being affected by some unknown force. Slowly, their eyes began to close as their faces moved closer together, taking in the images of each others faces as their eyes shut. Going solely on instinct, they leaned in closer, their lips slowly inching towards each other, until noises right outside the forge pulled them back into reality.

Pulling apart, Draven moved behind the one table prepared to duck in case somebody came in. Hiccup looked outside, not seeing a single soul, save a few Terrible Terrors as well as Letters rummaging around under houses scavenging for food.

"False alarm. Just some Terrors." Hiccup said to Draven who was on the other side of the forge. Feeling partially awkward now, the two continued on with their work to build Toothless' new tail.

'What are you doing Draven?' a voice in the hybrid's head said to himself. 'You're not even human anymore, don't do this. She deserves to be with someone more like her, not a monster.' the voice said again. Draven had thought about this for some time now. He thought that he was simply wasting his time with his feelings for Hiccup, and that she'd be better off with someone who's actually human.

Looking back to her however, all those thoughts were pushed aside and forgotten. Looking at her, he saw that radiant smile on her face as well as her face seeming to have an alluring glow as she assembled the last few pieces of the tail together. 'I love her.' Draven thought to himself as he took the final few pieces of the tail to her.

Attaching the connecting belts to the fin as well as the adjustable joints allowing the fin to bend, it was finished. Hiccup and Draven looked at their work one last time before she closed it and put it in her study.

It was late now. If it wasn't midnight, it was already early in the morning. Letting out a yawn, Hiccup said to Draven, "I should probably get some sleep. We'll test this tomorrow first thing before I have to go to training."

Instead of Hiccup going to the exit of the forge to head home, she prepared the bed she kept in her study for whenever she worked long hours like she just did. Draven gathered his own items and placed them into his satchel as he too prepared to head home.

"Goodnight." Draven heard Hiccup say softly as she closed the curtain to her study and went to bed. "Goodnight." Draven replied. 'my love.' he quietly thought, wishing morning would come sooner.

* * *

><p>Let me know what you guys think about rthe story so far. Just leave it in the review.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7: Toothless' tail

"I can almost smell them." Stoick said coldly as he was gazing at his map charts of the areas around dragon island. "They're close. Steady." the chief said to his men to keep them focused. Most expeditions to find dragon island all ended in failure. Either they got lost in the maze of sea stacks and have to withdraw or they'd get attacked by swarms of Monstrous Nightmares if they were in the stacks for too long.

"Take us in." Stoick ordered as he gazed into the thick fog that blanketed the seas around the colossal volcano. "Hard to port... for Helheim's gate." other vikings shouted to inform the other ships.

The trio of ships, turned into the smoke, I tent on finding the dragon nest and disappearing soon after. An eery silence came upon the ships as they entered the fog. They could barely even hear the crashing of waves outside the fog. Suddenly, faster than they could have realised it, they were immediately swarmed by half a dozen Nightmares that set their ships alight. "TAKE THEM DOWN!" Stoick barked put as most of the men had swords and spears drawn whilst other tried desperately to put out the fires.

...

Hiccup dreamt of one thing and one thing only; flying high in the sky with Draven by her side. When she flew with Draven the other day, there was only one thing she could feel when they were in that huge aerial ocean. Up there, she didn't have a care in the world. Up there, nobody could bother her. Up there, she was free.

She began to stir from her sleep to the sound of Terrible Terrors chirping each other on the rooftops. Slowly her eyes opened and she sat up from her bed in her study. Looking to her side, she saw the artificial tail she and Draven built together and remembered what she had to do.

Concealing it under some rags, she left the forge and made her way to the docks. She knew Toothless was still a bit tentative and would need to keep his mind occupied on something else while she tried to put his tail on.

Since the marketplace was still closed at this hour, she went to the docks were she saw the village fishermen pulling back into dock with another catch.

"Morning Hiccup. Up early are we?" the one fisherman stated. "Yeah I thought I'd try get an early start today. The marketplace is still close so I wanted to ask; would it be any trouble if I could have a fish or two from your catch?" Hiccup asked the viking.

The man let out a small chuckle at how pleading she sounded. Reaching inside his boat, he pulled out a whole basket of assorted fish and handed it to the girl. "You don't have to ask me Hiccup. You contribute more to this village with the things you build in the forge than anyone else on the island. True, sometimes some of your plans aren't the best, but my family is still alive because of how you fixed my weapons. Here you go."

Hiccup strained somewhat to carry the large basket but managed and simply thanked the fisherman, nodded and smiled. She then made her way back to the forge for the tail piece while fishermen went back out to sea.

...

With it still being very early in the morning and with most of the village still asleep, Hiccup was able to get her basket of fish and the artificial tail out of the village without anyone seeing.

It was a rather quiet walk until the beating of wings drew her attention to behind her. Turning around, she saw Draven and Violet coming down to the ground from a morning flight. "Morning Hiccup." Draven chirped with a smile. He was also pleasantly surprised as he thought Hiccup might still be asleep.

Hiccup noticed that Draven seemed wide awake and bustling with energy, yet she was still slightly drowsy. "You're up early, and full of energy if I might add. Sleep well I assume?" Hiccup asked with another yawn.

"Not really." Draven answered. "Wraiths are nocturnal and with my human side, I can only sleep for an hour at a time." Hiccup was shocked to say the least. Only getting an hour of sleep at night but still being lively the next morning?

"I've learned to cope with it though. I have after all been living with it for five years." Draven concluded. Pleasantries over, the trio made their way towards the cove with Toothless' tail.

Hearing a grumble from Hiccup's stomach, Draven pulled out some food from the side of Violet's saddle. It was some bread and a few berries. Draven handed them to Hiccup for her to have as a quick breakfast whilst he took the heavy basket of fish from her.

...

Reaching the cove, Hiccup, Draven and Violet made their way in finding Toothless sitting by the side of the lake staring up at the sky. "Hey, Toothless." Hiccup greeted cheerfully, drawing the Night Fury's attention to them.

Toothless was happy to see the human girl he'd bonded with and called friend. Moving over to her, he rubbed himself along her side and purred. Looking to the side, he saw Violet and Draven. This was the first time he'd ever seen Draven up close and in his human form.

Draven took the basket he was carrying over his shoulder and placed of in front of him for the dragon to see. "No hard feelings from when we fought each other in the raids, right?" Draven said apologetically. "Agreed. I hated having to raid the island anyway." Toothless replied with a nod.

"We brought breakfast. I hope you're hungry." Hiccup said to Toothless , gesturing to the basket. Draven kicked the basket on its side and spilt the load of fish towards Toothless. "Okay, that's disgusting." Hiccup commented at the sound the fish made. "Uh... we've got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod, and a whole smoked eel." Hiccup said, presenting the fish to Toothless who was sniffing his food.

"Did you say eel?" Draven, Violet and Toothless said in perfect unison and fear. Toothless reared his head back at the smell and stepped away from the pule of fish when Hiccup pulled the ell out. "Woa, woa, get rid of that." Draven pleaded to Hiccup with what sounded like some level of fear in his voice. It was evident that he disliked the eel and more evident at the growling and moaning sounds Toothless and Violet were making at the mere sight of the yellow sea creature.

"No, no, no, no! It's okay." Hiccup reassured the group as she threw the eel into the bushes. "Yeah, I don't really like eel much either."

Draven and Hiccup proceeded to move behind Toothless as Draven said to Hiccup "Dragons have a fear of eels at that trait carried across to me as well. Don't ask me why we're afraid of them, we just are."

As they approached the tail, Violet moved up closer to Toothless as well. Seeing her move over, Toothless grabbed one of the larger cods and offered it to her. Seeing this, Violet smiled gently and was a bit surprised. This was usually a dragon sign of trust when they shared their food. Slowly, Violet moved closer to Toothless' face and took the cod from his mouth. Toothless meanwhile took the moment to take in Violet's scent while she was close. Her name was fitting as it not only matched her colour but her smell as well. He liked it.

Toothless actually began to feel somewhat pampered. Why was everyone trying so hard to make sure he was calm and happy. Hiccup had bonded with him and wanted to be his friend, Draven the human/wraith seemed like he wanted to be a friend as well and be on better terms, and even Violet.

Not thinking more on the matter, he continued to eat the pule of fish in front of him with Violet sitting beside him and Draven and Hiccup by his tail. 'I wonder what they're doing there?' Toothless thought to himself.

"Okay. That's it. That's it, just stick with good stuff. And don't you mind us. We'll just be back here... minding our own business." Hiccup commented as she and Draven moved to Toothless' tail and placed the artificial tail next to it.

Things weren't that easy for them as Toothless kept moving his tail from side to side

"It's okay. Okay... okay..." Hiccup pleaded to get his tail to stop. Eventually she got on top of his tail to stop it from moving whilst Draven was double checking the structural integrity of the new fin. "There." Hiccup muttered as she got the tail to stop.

As she and Draven began strapping on the fin, Toothless began to wonder what they were doing. Finishing the rest of his fish, he felt that something...different. His tail felt weighted with something by where his missing fin was. Flexing his other fin, his eyes went wide with realisation. "Did they make me a new fin?" Toothless said aloud with shock.

"They worked all night on it." Violet answered him. Slowly, Toothless opened his wings, eager to take to the sky again. "Uhh, I think you should wait." Violet warned.

"That's not too bad. It works." Hiccup said as she marveled at the fin she and Draven made together. Draven thought otherwise as he stared at how the fin played there limp. "Well its shape and movement works, but I think it needs more...something. It may need more work.

Violet looked under Toothless' wing and saw Hiccup sitting on the tail. "Uh guys!" Violet said with urgency to the humans to get their attention. Draven looked over his shoulder to her and saw Toothless wanting to take to the sky. Unfortunately before he could tell Hiccup or pull her off the tail, Toothless lunged into the air with a single powerful thrust of his wings.

"Whoa! No! No! No!" Hiccup screamed in terror as she clung to Toothless' tail with all her strength.

Looking at the fin, Hiccup saw that all it did was fold again and not benefit Toothless at all. With it closed, Toothless began to fall back to the ground. Acting quickly, Hiccup grabbed the fin and yanked it open. Suddenly everything changed. Toothless was no longer falling but flying.

"Oh, my... it's working! Yes! Yes, we did it!" she creamed with joy to Draven. All the hybrid and the Skrill could do was smile as they watched Toothless fly over the cove.

However when Toothless felt a weight on his tail and looked back to see her, he was less than joyed. "Sorry Hiccup, but I fly solo." he said as he took a sharp turn and flung her into the lake. If only things were that easy for the Night Fury.

With her gone, nothing was holding the tail open anymore and Toothless fell back to earth and crashed in the lake as well.

Draven and Violet rushed to the lake side to check on the duo with concern on their faces. First seeing Toothless, they could see he was fine. Looking over to where Hiccup was, they couldn't see anything. Draven was about to dive in after her but stopped when she burst out of the water not a moment later. "Yeah!" she cheered as she resurfaced. It worked. The tail worked. Granted, it couldn't stay open on its own but it worked.

She and the Night Fury swam back to shore where Draven and Violet helped them out respectively. "That could have gone better." the hybrid said as he help Hiccup out of the water and gave her his jacket to help warm up. "ARE YOU KIDDING!?" Hiccup said rather joyfully. "That was amazing. IT WORKED!"

Back with the dragons, Toothless was a bit disappointed that his new tail didn't function fully. "Looks like without her, you can't get in the air." Violet said rather smug. Toothless simply held his head low. Violet nudged his head with her own and said again soothingly "She's trying to help you. Let her. Don't be so afraid of letting a human get close. I'll admit their not the best thing to make a friend out of but they're well worth it in the end."

Looking back to the humans, Toothless could see how they were laughing together as they talked. Toothless moved back to Hiccup wanting to apologise. Hiccup saw him move closer with a lowered head and dilated eyes. She could see he was sorry.

Toothless was expecting her to be angry at him or maybe run away. He wasn't expecting her to smile at him and say "It's okay Toothless. I can understand that you're nervous. I know this must be strange for you. You don't have to apologise." The Night Fury was shocked to say the least. Feeling cheered up, he stepped closer to her and rubbed his head along her side.

Looking to the sky and the sun, Hiccup remember that dragon training would be soon. If she missed it, it may started raising questions around the village. "We'll be back later to try figure something out with your tail." Hiccup said as she hugged Toothless and got up to leave.

Toothless returned to his napping area to stare at his new tail whilst Violet, Draven and Hiccup made their way to the exit. On the way out, Hiccup grabbed the fishing basket to take back when she spotted the ell she had thrown into the bushes earlier. A devilish smirk appeared on her lips as she got an idea.

...

Hiccup had managed to get back to the village and blend in with everyone's daily activities without arousing suspicion. Draven had followed her and put on his Hood disguise upon entering the village. The two made their way to the arena where they saw Gobber leading the teens there as well. "I think I better hang back a little. Can't imagine they'd be too pleased to see me. Not after yesterday's training." Hiccup agreed. If the teens saw him escort her all the way to the arena entrance, they might start asking questions. Draven stayed in the village and would wait several minutes before heading to the arena to watch them.

Hiccup went ahead and soon joined the group headed to the arena. Everyone kept their pleasantries short as they soon reached the ring where they found six buckets of water waiting for them. Picking them up one each, Gobber unlatched the doors for the cage of the Hideous Zippleback. As soon as the doors opened, a thick cloud of green smoke poured out and quickly engulfed the arena. The density of the smoke as well as the speed it filled the area remained the teens of how the Wraith would escape situations with its black and purple smoke.

The teens all buddied up two each. Tuffnut with Snotlout and Fishlegs with Andor, leaving the girls to team up together.

"Today is about teamwork. Now, a wet dragon head can't light its fire. The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky. One head breathes gas, the other head lights it. Your job is to know which is which." Gobber advised as he watched from the side.

"Razor sharp, serrated teeth that inject venom for pre-digestion." Fishlegs muttered to himself to remember how Zipplebacks hunt. "Prefers ambush attack, by crushing its victims-"

"Will you please stop that?!" Andor shouted as not to give themselves away in the mist.

Meanwhile, Snotlout and Tuffnut were back to back and scanned their area back and forth to find the dragon. "If that dragon shows either of his faces, I'm gonna-" Snotlout mumbled as to psych himself out, until two shadows caught his attention. "There!" Snotlout shouted as he and Tuffnut turned and threw their water at the shadow, hoping it was the dragon.

The attempt and the water was wasted as all the did was drench Hiccup and Tuffnut. "Hey! It's us, idiots!" Tuffnut scolded them.

"Your butt's getting bigger. We thought you were a Dragon." Tuffnut said, referring to his sister in his typical mocking attitude to her.

Thinking that Tuffnut was referring to both of them, Snotlout approached Hiccup and took her hand as he said "Not that there's anything wrong with a dragon-esque figure."

Hiccup tried to pull her hand back and shove him off. Snotlout did let go but not from her attempt. Out the corner of his eye, he saw Hood was standing on the edge of the arena again.

The thoughts of the four were pulled back to training when Hiccup heard a hissing sound behind Tuffnut and Snotlout. "Wait." she said firmly to them to get them to stop talking.

Quicker than anyone could react, Tuffnut was pulled into the smoke where everyone heard a crashing sound and Tuffnut scream. "OH, I'M HURT! I AM VERY MUCH HURT!" Tuffnut yelled as he ran out of the smoke a second later.

"Chances of survival are dwindling into single-digits now." Fishlegs nervously commented as the teens began to split up now. Hearing another hissing sound, Fishlegs turned to see one of the Zippleback's heads emerge out of the smoke, causing him to drop his bucket in panic. When it opened its jaws, he saw that it secreted gas rather than sparks.

"Oh. Wrong head." he said, somewhat relieved, until the head spewed a stream of gas at him. "Fishlegs!" Gobber screamed to the boy for him to run. The boy did so as well as all other teens except Hiccup.

Hiccup was determined to try and do better in this training match unlike the previous two days. Seeing both the heads peer out of the smoke, she spotted the head the sparks coming out of its mouth. It was the left head.

"Now, Hiccup!" Gobber shouted for her to eliminate the left head's sparks.

Hiccup took the bucket and tried to throw the water at the dragon's head, but it was poorly timed as the left head reared back at the same time. The water simply fell to the ground, not even getting close to the dragon.

"Oh, come on!" Hiccup whimpered in defeat as she dripped the bucket watch the dragon's heads get closer.

"Hiccup!" Gobber shouted in horror. Once again Hiccup was in danger and he was afraid that this time she might not be saved. Draven as well was about to lunge into the ring once more to protect Hiccup but halted when he picked up a second coming from Hiccup. 'Did she...' Draven thought. Only one thing had such a horrifying smell to it.

Pulling her vest back slightly, she revealed the eel she took from the cove to the Zippleback. With the mere sight of it, the Zippleback l out a loud growl in fear and began backing away from the small viking girl.

"BACK! BACK! BACK!" Draven, Gobber and the teens could only watch in shock and surprise as Hiccup was herding the Zippleback backwards.

"Now, don't you make me tell you again! Yes, that's right. Back into your cage." Hiccup continued as the two headed dragon backed into its cell and into the corner.

Pulling the eel out of her vest, Hiccup threw it into the pen, earning a frightened whine from the dragon. "Now, think about what you've done."

Speaking of seeing the eel, the simple sight of it was enough for Draven to hastily back away from the arena edge and towards the cliff side. Reaching the edge, he ripped his mask from his face and threw up over the cliff. All it took for him to lose any appetite was the sight of an eel.

Catching a glimpse of Gothi staring at him out the corner of his eye, he put his mask back on and said to her "Bad fish for breakfast."

Back in the ring, Hiccup had shut the Zippleback's doors after she's thrown the eel inside. Turning around, tpshe saw all the shocked expressions on the faces of the other teenagers.

"Okay! So, are we done? Because I've got some things I need to, uh... Yep. I'll... see you tomorrow!" Hiccup said nervously as she made a hasty exit out of the arena. Exiting the arena, she reached the bridge where she saw Draven waiting for her.

The bridge was quiet and nobody else was in sight. The only nearby people was everyone at the arena and they couldn't see the area of the bridge they were on.

Approaching Draven, Hiccup saw his mask was off again and he had a raised eyebrow with a questioning look in his eye. "What?" Hiccup asked.

"An eel? Really?" Draven answered dryly. "What?" Hiccup asked again. Her plan worked, didn't it?

"That is disgusting." Draven mumbled as he turned and began walking to the village with Hiccup next to him.

...

As the two got back to the village, and with Draven being Hood again, he said to her "So, what shall we do about Toothless."

They were in a quiet secluded area where Hiccup paced for a moment. "Well...he can't get in the air without someone or something to hold his tail open, so... I think it's time you taught me to ride a dragon."

Draven snicked slightly as he replied "So in short, you want to build a saddle now, right?"

The expanding emerald eyes of Hiccup was all the answer he needed. If there was one thing Hiccup wanted to feel again, it was the freedom of being high in the sky without a care in the world, and between her wanting that freedom and getting Toothless back in the sky, it was mutually beneficial.

"I have the means to build a saddle at my place." Draven said to Hiccup. "We won't be bothered there so it will take us about and hour or two."

"Then let's go." Hiccup said as she walked past Draven and towards the forest. Draven watched her as she made her way before quickly catching up with her. He loved how eager she was to learn how to be a dragon rider like he was. It was all coming together. Rebuilding the bond with Hiccup, his plan to show vikings that humans and dragons can coexist via Hiccup and Toothless as well as bringing Hiccup into his world. A world of freedom.

In no time, Hiccup and Draven were out of the village and on their way to Draven's workshop to build a saddle for Toothless.

* * *

><p>Sorry about the short chapter, but I hope you guys still liked it. Next one will be much longer.<p> 


	8. Chapter 8: Progression

I'm back guys. Sorry about the wait but I've been very busy with work and a test I had to take. So we're now at the part where in the movie we saw that whole montage of Hiccup and Toothless training together. Because that whole scene in the movie only lasted like three minutes, I'm having trouble trying to make sizable chapters out of it. As a result, I'm cramming as much as I can into this chapter to get it to a good length (will span the saddle making scene to the scene where Andor will find Hiccup at the forge. Therefore this chapter will have multiple time jumps and I apologise for this.)

...

When Hiccup and Draven reached his forge, the immediately got to work on building a saddle for Toothless where Hiccup would be able to control his tail from. Hiccup started work on a design and size for the saddle whilst Draven sourced the materials. He had gathered several sheets of leathers and threading to begin cutting and shaping for the design.

Before long, Hiccup and Draven finished the saddle for Toothless. "So how are you going to control the tail?" Draven asked Hiccup.

Hiccup gave a quick look around and saw a piece of rope. Grabbing it, she replied to Draven "I'll need to pull it open somehow. With this, I can ride from Toothless' back and still be able to pull on the tail." Gathering some extra equipment and placing it into his satchel, Draven said back "Well then, shall we?"

With the saddle, rope and extra supplies packed up, they began the journey to the cove with Violet following close behind again.

...

Draven and Violet entered the cove where they took a seat over by the side whilst Hiccup took the saddle over to Toothless.

"Hey Toothless, I got a surprise for you bud." Hiccup said with the saddle behind her as she approached her Night Fury. Toothless saw that she was hiding something and stepped towards her in curiosity.

As she was a few meters from him, she pulled out the saddle and revealed it to him. "Tada" Hiccup said joyfully. Looking at the saddle for a moment before looking back to Hiccup, Toothless began bouncing around Hiccup.

"I like you Hiccup, but this is one ride you're gonna have to earn." he said playfully as he began running around her before running around the lake.

"Hey!" Hiccup shouted as she chased after Toothless. After running up and down the cove several times, she looked over to Draven and Violet who were still sitting on the side line.

"You gonna help out or something?" Hiccup asked in an almost pleading tone. Rolling his eyes and snickering, Draven replied "Well don't look at us, he's your dragon. You catch him."

Toothless continued to playfully run away from Hiccup around the lake for the next few minutes, with Hiccup chasing close behind with the saddle over her head.

After several laps around the lake, Toothless accidentally backed himself into a corner on the side of the cove. Hiccup took her chance and tossed the saddle to the side in order to catch her Night Fury.

Toothless' only way out was right where Hiccup was. With some weaving to the side, he tried to run around Hiccup but was in vein as Hiccup tacked him as he tried to get past. Both rolled around and laughed as they held onto each other and eventually came to a stop.

"Guess you caught me." Toothless said to Hiccup with a purr whilst rubbing his snout over her head.

Standing up, Hiccup went to grab the saddle again while Draven walked over to them with the tools and supplies in his satchel.

Toothless held still while Hiccup strapped his new saddle to him. Draven made his way to Toothless' tail and unpacked the rope that Hiccup took from his forge. Once the saddle was on, Hiccup went to the tail and attached the end of the rope to the end of the tail and led it back to the saddle.

"Give it a few tugs." Draven asked Hiccup as he stayed by the tail to examine it. Hiccup did so and as Draven watched the tail move, he could see it wasn't a viable method. The tail was moving but not smoothly. It was still flailing aimlessly.

Hiccup could read Draven's facial expression and knew what he was thinking. "Let's get in the air." she said to Draven pulling him out of his thoughts. "We might learn more if we actually see it working."

Slowly she climbed onto Toothless new saddle and gave him a moment to adjust to the feeling of a human on his back. Draven did the same with Violet, taking off first so they could observe. With a gentle pat behind his head, Hiccup leaned down and said to Toothless "Okay, let's see if this works. Let's take it nice and easy."

Carefully, Toothless opened his wings and took to the air in one powerful thrust. As soon as he was up, Hiccup immediately pulled on the rope attached to the end of the tail. The artificial fin opened, but Draven was right about it being hard to manage.

As Draven and Violet looked down to Hiccup and Toothless, they could see that the tail was keeping them in the air but only just. Hiccup kept having to yank on the tail but it kept on closing itself and with her sometimes having to actually turn around while riding only proved at this method wasn't efficient at all.

Looking up, Hiccup saw Draven gesturing with his hand for her to land. Hiccup did so and in seconds, both riders were back on the ground, though being a hard landing for Hiccup and Toothless.

Dismounting and moving over to Hiccup, Draven asked her "Well...Any ideas? Hand control clearly doesn't work."

Think over her options, Hiccup had an idea. She strapped the rope to her ankle and tapped Toothless on his neck to take off again. Draven didn't even have a chance to say anything or get to Violet so all he could do is watch from the ground.

With the rope controlled from the foot, it was slightly easier for Hiccup as all she had to do to keep the tail open was to lock her left leg over Toothless' left arm. It was an improvement, but still ineffective as controlled of the tail was still to stiff or unresponsive. Made evident when Hiccup tried to adjust the tail for Toothless to turn but only cause him to plummet to the ground and make them both hit the ground hard.

Seeing them crash, Draven and Violet quickly made their way to Hiccup and Toothless to check if they were okay. When Violet reached Toothless, she could see some level of disappointment in his toxic green eyes. Nudging his head with her own she smile while saying to him "What you upset about? You're getting in the air aren't you? Give them some time, they'll get your tail fixed." Looking back to her with his own smile, Toothless replied "Thanks Violet."

Reaching Hiccup who was laying on her side, Draven help her sit up only to see her right arm darkly bruised. Pulling out the blue vial from his coat, he applied some of the liquid to Hiccup's arm and quickly healed the bruise.

"Now what?" Hiccup asked Draven as he helped her stand up. Looking over to Toothless' artificial fin, Draven answered "Well there's two main things to sort out. Priority one: we need to make you a saddle belt like I have. Two: while I was watching Toothless tail in the wind, I noticed how he puts his intact fin into specific positions. My guess is we need to try get our fin to mimic those exact movements and we might get him fully air born."

Hiccup paced for a moment before answering "A gear/pulley system maybe. That way we can set the tail to stay in different positions without much effort for me to keep it open."

Thinking on it for a moment, Draven answered "That could work." Looking to the sky, Draven looked back to Hiccup and said "It's getting late. How about we sketch up some ideas and blueprints and meet at my place tomorrow to build the system."

With that, Hiccup, Draven and Violet said their goodbyes to Toothless and made their way to their homes.

...

The next day, Hiccup had got up early before anyone else in the village, had breakfast and grabbed her blueprints she worked on overnight and made her way into the forest and towards Draven's home.

Reaching his home, she saw he too was also awake (no surprise since he only sleeps for an hour at a time) and was busy setting up his forge. "Morning." Draven chirped with a smoke as he was heating up the charcoal pit in the forge.

"Morning Drav." Hiccup answered back with her own smile. Walking into his forge, Hiccup set her blueprints down on the table and unraveled them. Draven walked over to her with his own blueprints and set them down beside hers. Both examined and compared each others designs until Draven pulled out some parchment from under the table for he and Hiccup to do a quick rough sketch of a solution to controlling the tail.

The two of them sharing input, they sketched a system whereby the control rope would remain attached to the far end of the tail but would need to remain close to Toothless' body. It would need to have as little slack as possible in order to have full control. By the saddle area, Draven sketched a rough outline of the foot rest with a gear underneath it where the ripe would lead into.

"This might actually work. Let's get started." Draven said to Hiccup as he went over to his supply cabinet to pull out the items needed. Hiccup however was as little too eager to test out her saddle attachment that she had in her saddle. An attachment she made out of the remaining Gronckle iron from a few nights ago.

"Actually, would it be alright if I went on ahead to the cove to check on Toothless." Hiccup asked Draven. The hybrid looked over to her and gestured to the baskets of fish over by Violet's stable. "Sure thing. You can take one of the baskets of fish there. Should take about thirty minutes for met to get these pieces together."

Hiccup proceed to take the basket and head out to the cove to see I'd her dragon was doing alright

...

Reaching the cove, Hiccup made her way in and found Toothless still sleeping on a charred patch of ground next to the lake. Carefully and quietly, she made her way over to him and sat down on a boulder next to him. Putting the fish down, she looked at how peaceful and fetal he appeared in his sleeping form. Hiccup pulled out her notebook and pencil and began drawing Toothless.

After about seven minutes, Hiccup was finished and Toothless began to stir from his slumber to the smell of fish. Opening his eyes, he was immediately greeted with the sight of his human friend and rider with the basket of fish next to her.

Getting up, he rushed over to her side and Nuzzled her with his snout while purring. "Well good morning to you too." Hiccup chirped to Toothless with a laugh. Turning to the basket, she pushed it over to spill its contents for Toothless to eat.

While Toothless was eating, Hiccup unfastened his saddle so she could attach the hook for her riding gear that she made. It was a simple modification and a few minutes, Hiccup finished the attachment and Toothless finished his meal.

Putting his saddle back on, Hiccup wanted to give the new attachment a test. She knew that without the gear system Draven was building, it would still be hard to control the fin but she'd manage.

Taking to the air, Hiccup and Toothless flew out of the cove and flew around the forest for a bit. The new attachment was working well as Hiccup wasn't sliding around on the saddle s much but the tail control method she was using soon pulled them from the air, where they crashed into a large field of tall green grass.

With the attachment, Hiccup wasn't flung from the saddle like she was the previous day. She still fell off the saddle but she wasn't hurt. When she stood up to gain her bearings, she heard Toothless purring loudly and saw him rolling around in the grass uncontrollably. Picking up a small piece of the grass, Hiccup could smell that it had an extremely strong sweet herbal scent to it.

"Dragon nip." Hiccup heard Draven call out behind her. Turning quickly, she saw her friend with all their tools and equipment on his back and in his satchel. She also saw that he was covering his mouth and nose. Draven noticed this and stated "Most dragons absolutely love this stuff, they can't get enough of it. Some however like Wraiths and Whispering Deaths are allergic."

"What? Can't handle the smell of some grass?" Hiccup joked. Draven simply answered "Not unless I want an uncontrollable cough and sneeze for the next five hours."

Seeing Toothless in his dazed state, Hiccup asked again, "Wait, isn't this the same stuff you used on the Nadder the other day?" Pulling out some of the gras from the inside of his coat while still covering his mouth, Draven answered "I keep some on myself for situations like that. So long as I don't inhale it."

After a long while, Toothless was able to get out of his daze long enough for the group to move away from the dragon nip patch and back to the cove. When in the cove, Toothless couldn't help but fall asleep.

Hiccup and Draven then removed Toothless' saddle to make the necessary adjustments and modifications. After about an hour, they were just about finished.

Looking up to see the sun, Draven turned to Hiccup and said to her with some urgency "Don't you have a training lesson to get to?" Hiccup's eyes couldn't go wide enough. She forgot. She'd been having so much fun spending time learning to fly Toothless as well as being with Draven that she completely forgot.

"Go, I'll take care of the final modifications." Draven said to her as he help her up and turned her towards the exit. Know she only had minutes, Hiccup exited the cove and ran as fast and as Shepard as she could to get to the arena.

Toothless watched Hiccup and Draven every time they were together and was beginning to notice Draven's conflicting body language and pheromones. "You love her." Toothless said as Draven was making his way back to him to finish the mods.

"Is it that obvious?" Draven answered dryly. Looking at the human dragon hybrid curiously, Toothless asked Draven "I just find it strange how you're conflicting about the matter."

Draven knew where this was going. "Yeah yeah, I get it!" Draven snapped back. "I know how in dragon culture if two dragons find each other attractive or start developing feelings, you waste no time bonding. Don't think I haven't noticed the pheromones you and Violet have been exchanging." he said with a gesture to his Skrill. "But with humans its more complicated than that. Made more so by the fact that I'm not even human anymore."

Letting out a sigh, Draven went quiet and continued fixing up Toothless' tail adjustment. Toothless finally said to Draven "I believe that we each follow our hearts. Who cares what we are on the outside, it's the inside that counts right? That's why they call it 'soul mates'. Violet and I aren't even the same species and we have feelings. Why should it be any different for you?"

Draven thought over Toothless' words for quite some time as the three listened to the silence and the water. He was right. All Draven could do was continue helping Hiccup whilst trying to further their bond.

...

Hiccup just managed to reach the arena in time and catch up with everyone before training started. "Well, look who decided to sleep in." Gobber said to Hiccup.

The group proceeded into the arena to fight the next dragon. Hiccup entered the arena with her hands in her pockets where she felt something inside. Pulling the content out, she saw some in the dragon nip from earlier. A devilish smirk formed over her lips as she decided to see how this next dragon would react to it.

With the teens all gathered in the center with shields and axes and Hiccup to the side again, Gobber opened the gates to the Gronckle enclosure where the female boulder class bolted out and began attacking the teens.

Hiccup wanted as both the dragons and the other teens seemed to be moving about aimlessly and in complete chaos. While the dragon was moving around firing lava balls and searching for a target, she eventually saw Hiccup again but this time she was standing incredibly still. Seeing her as an easy opportunity, she made a beeline for the small viking girl but as she was mere meters away, Hiccup extended her hand with the dragon nip towards the Gronckle.

Catching the scent, the Gronckle couldn't help but come to a dead stop in front of Hiccup and continually inhale the aroma of the grass, nearly falling into a deep comfortable sleep in the process. A second scent she smelt was that Hiccup was the same girl from the other day. The one she almost blasted but was stopped by the menacing sound of a Wraith and Skrill overhead.

Once again, the teens were in complete shock. Hiccup brought down the Gronckle whilst barely even touching it. Seeing the lesson as over, Hiccup proceeded to leave the arena to get back to the forest. However as she was making her way out, she saw that the other teens looked like they were chasing after her. She had to loose them first.

Taking the bridge towards the village and over the bridge, the teens caught up with her where she heard them asking her things in awe. Something she wasn't exactly accustomed to.

"What was that? Some kind of trick? What did you do?" Fishlegs excitedly asked.

"How'd you do that?" Tuffnut asked.

"It was really cool." Ruffnut said, pushing her twin aside.

"Hey, Hiccup, I've never seen a Gronckle to that before." Snotlout said as well. This was something Hiccup really wasn't used to. Was this what it was like to be admired?

Thinking she could lose them now, Hiccup slipped her way past them, nearly bumping Andor who didn't seem at all too pleased but more suspicious. "I left my axe back in the ring. You guys go on ahead and I'll catch up with you." she said as she turned and ran towards the other end of the bridge.

...

When Hiccup reached the cove, she quickly found Toothless waiting for her but she couldn't find Draven or Violet anywhere. Thinking that they where either flying around the island or maybe back at the house, she went over to Toothless to inspect his saddle and tail modifications.

Looking over hers and Draven's design and work, she figured that Toothless might be able to get airborne now. Seeing that Toothless was all too eager to fly as well, Hiccup climbed onto him and put her feet in the peddles. With the new gear control by her left foot, all she had to do was curl her ankle up or down and the tail responded just about perfectly.

"Okay, nice and easy bud. We still need to test this control a bit longer before we can know if its perfect." Hiccup said to her dragon with a pat behind his head.

Gently, Toothless took to the air and flew several laps around the cove while Hiccup tested the peddle control. She kept it in the fully open position most of the time as she wasn't running a thorough test. It was only to see if then tail worked.

Seeing the new assembly work fine, Hiccup and Toothless landed back down by the lake. "That was amazing bud. We almost got it right." Hiccup said while scratching Toothless behind the head, earning a loud purr as well has Toothless leaning his head back into Hiccup's hand.

Seeing his much he liked it, Hiccup dismounted and undid his saddle. With the saddle out of the way, Hiccup continued scratching Toothless behind the head, earning more purrs from him. "Oh yeah, oh yeah, right there." Toothless cooed as Hiccup kept scratching him. Moving her hand around, they made their way under Toothless' jaw line. With one scratch over that area, Hiccup put Toothless into am light sleep. Looking at her hand, Hiccup had another idea with what yo use in dragon training.

...

The next day at training, Gobber had pitted the teens against the Nadder again. Once again, the teens showed a perfect example of poor coordination and kept running about aimlessly with the Nadder chasing them.

Hiccup was standing completely still watching the while commotion with axe and shield in hand as well. As much as she didn't need them, the others would question why she'd go into training without them against the Nadder.

After a few moments of everyone running in circles, Andor tried to make his move and attack the blue spiked dragon. With the Nadder's thick armoured scales, all she had to do was deflect the axe with her horn as she was charging the young blonde viking boy.

With the failed attack, Andor ran off to the side to try flank the dragon and get his axe back. With him out the way, the Nadder tuned her attention to the next person in her sights; Hiccup.

Running over to the brunette viking girl, she stopped just short of her when she picked up her smell at the last few feet. Hiccup also dropped her axe and shield to show she didn't mean any harm. "Wait, I know you. You're the girl who was hurt the other day. The one that Wraith boy protected." the Nadder said as she looked at and sniffed Hiccup curiously.

Hiccup saw Andor running at the Nadder again with axe in hand out the corner of her eye and had to stop him. Raising her hands, she began scratching the Nadder's jaw line. "Wait, what are you?... Ah, right there" the Nadder cooed before completely passing out before Hiccup.

Once again, Gobber, Gothi and the teens started at Hiccup in awe. She just brought down a Nadder with almost no effort. All except Andor who was getting rather annoyed. How could Hiccup, the runt of the group, be doing better than he was.

"Hiccup, you're totally going to come in first, there's no question." Tuffnut cheered as he and the others raced over to Hiccup to congratulate her. This did not help Andor's situation. He was the one who got the glory, not Hiccup. He was the one who got praised, not Hiccup.

Hiccup eventually slipped away from the group and made her way to the cove.

...

About halfway to the cove, Hiccup saw Draven and Violet walking about the forest. Catching up to them she asked Draven curiously "What, no flying today." Turning around to see her bright smile, Draven simply answered back "Heavy crosswinds are swirling. Makes flying somewhat difficult."

After a few minutes, they made their way into the cove. With heavy winds making flying out of the question and the sun shining brightly, the group decided to spend the day relaxing.

As the sun moved through the aerial ocean above, Hiccup and Draven simply soaked in the sun's rays as they talked. "So what happened after you left Berk?" Hiccup asked Draven, referring to five years ago.

Draven was quiet for a moment as he remembered the last five years. He started "Violet and I drifted at sea for about three months. I sailed north east following the coastline of the mainland until we were eventually hit by a rogue hurricane. We sank and I woke up several hours later with a splitting headache and in someone's home. I was in a far away land called Japan. The people there look a bit different from us and see dragons as deities rather than monsters."

Hiccup was interested to saw the least as Draven went on. "It was there that I found a colossal golden snake-like dragon in a cave that taught me to control my Wraith side and help me come to terms with it. Over the following four years, Violet and I trained together until the day we were ready to return. We even managed to kill another Wraith in that last year. Not exactly an experience I enjoyed."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow at that last part. She knew Draven absolutely hated Wraiths and would no doubt enjoy killing them, so she was surprised when Draven said he didn't enjoy it. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Draven answered "When Wraiths kill each other, the victor absorbs the powers and essence of the fallen, making it stronger and more powerful. Unfortunately for me, I'm only half Wraith. When I defeat a Wraith, the power absorbing process is disorientating, crippling, and painful. On the plus side, my reflexes heightened, my strength grew and I became slightly more sun resistant. Eventually, we made it back to Berk. The end."

Speaking of sunlight, Draven had an idea for fun. "Watch this." he said to Hiccup as he pulled out his sword. Using the mirror-like sword, he reflected the sunlight to the ground in front of Violet. In seconds, the Skrill was up and after the shiny light that Draven kept moving around. Hiccup couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of a dragon chasing after a reflection of light. "You try." Draven said to Hiccup.

Hiccup turned to her satchel and pulled out a small hammer she had left in their from the previous day when they were building the peddle control for Toothless' saddle. Angling it to the sun, Hiccup created a shiny light that appeared in front of her Night Fury.

Just like the female Skrill, Toothless chased after the light but in a more eager and energetic manner, as if he was convinced it was an actual object he was chasing. Hiccup and Draven continued on like this for several minutes, laughing as they played with their dragons until their source of light was blocked by some cloud cover.

With the sun gone, Draven slowly placed his weapon back into it's sheathe. As he watched the sword go in, his mind began to go over ever event of the past week, including the times Hiccup was in danger.

Standing up, he picked up two nearby sticks and took one over to Hiccup. When when saw him offer her one, she looked up to him questioningly. "And this?" she asked.

Draven came clean. "Hiccup, I know you're the resourceful type and your progress in dragon training is proof of that, but speed and cunning sometimes isn't always the best option."

Hiccup knew where he was going. He was referring to the times when she was hurt in the ring by Andor, almost killed by the Gronckle the first time, and when she we almost abducted by the outcasts, and she also knew he was right. If he had to try and protect and rescue her every time she landed up in danger, she basically be holding him back from his own tasks.

Standing up, she grabbed the stick and followed Draven away from the lake and into the main ground area in the cove. Draven began his lesson. "Stance first. Above all other things in melee combat, your stance is key. It alone dictates how well balanced you are as well as how you can use your weapon. The traditional viking way is run in swinging your weapon wildly and that why in the months that I've been here, nobody has been able to land a single hit on me. Wraith strength and speed aside, its kind of humiliating for full grown men to be bested by a sixteen year old, don't you think? Just because I change doesn't always mean I'm using the power."

Chuckling slightly at his comment, Hiccup raised her stick and tried to stand in a suitable stance. Seeing her stance, Draven frowned and stated "Attack me"

As instructed, Hiccup ran at Draven to swipe her stick at him but as she closed in, he sidestepped to left to get out of the way of the stick whilst also placing is right leg in front of Hiccup's feet and his right arm over her back. The combination resulted in Hiccup face planting.

Draven hated have to put her down like that and was half expecting her to get up and scold him, but she didn't. Hiccup got right back up, dusted herself off and went back into stance. "As I said, stance is key." Draven said as he approached Hiccup to adjust her stance.

Moving behind Hiccup, Draven put his arms around her to adjust her arms to a stance he'd use, while also moving his one leg between her own to move them into a better position. Hiccup couldn't help but blush at the moment right now with Draven so close behind her, feeling his breathing and especially when he made contact with her.

When Draven backed away, he had moved Hiccup's arms further away from her body while also moving her legs further apart with one just in front of the other. "Now, attack me again." Draven instructed. "But this time, try and maintain that stance."

Charging him again, Hiccup tried another swipe at Draven. This time however, her stick got a bit closer to Draven but he was still able to dodge, but when he tried to trip her, she was able to recover and stay on her feet.

"Better?" Draven asked Hiccup. "Much." she replied, feeling somewhat proud that she didn't fall over like in the past when he was picked on.

Draven continued "Next, maneuverability. The best offensive tactic is a relentless one. Don't stay in one spot and don't just run past your opponent swiping wildly. Stay close to them but move around. Circle them if you must."

Hiccup nodded and attacked again. Draven was glad that she was taking this seriously. This time when Hiccup attacked, she did as she was told and did not try and run through Draven like the previous two attempts. This time she stopped running just short of running into Draven and began swiping with her stick whilst moving around Draven trying to find a weak spot.

Unfortunately for Hiccup, 'weak spot' is not in Draven's vocabulary for his defence as he kept dodging and occasionally deflecting Hiccup's attacks. After about thirty seconds, Draven could hear that Hiccup's breathing was getting heavier and she was fatiguing. With another swipe from Hiccup, Draven grabbed her stick and pulled her towards him. She was pulled in such a way that she landed back first into Draven's chest. "Breathe." he advised in her ear before backing away for them to continue.

Hiccup took a moment to catch her breath before continuing. Draven then continued with the lesson. "Next, flow. You weapon should be an extension of yourself. It needs to be another limb. You need to feel it move through the air. Also, as much as simply wailing on your opponent can be a great stress reliever, it's not great for ending a fight. A good method is to turn you opponent's attack into your own." Getting into his own stance with his stick up but pointing downwards at am angle, Draven instructed Hiccup to attack again.

Hiccup did so, bringing her stick in for an overhead attack. However, Draven didn't try dodge. Her stick made contact with his own but because of the angle he held his one at, Hiccup's stick was deflected off to the side and downwards, leaving her open for Draven to bring his stick around for a strike, stopping just centimeters away from her head.

Despite her few mistakes, Draven was at least glad she was taking this seriously. Pulling away and taking a step back, he said to Hiccup "Good. Now let's see if you can use everything I've taught you at once. Attack."

Hiccup did so and for the next two hours, Hiccup and Draven sparred. Hiccup incorporated everything Draven taught her. She kept her body weight spread out to maintain balance, she continually maneuvered around Draven, and she remembered to use the sword in flowing movements.

By the end, Hiccup was sweating and panting from exhaustion but she was also smiling. In a few short hours, Draven had taught her to fight to defend herself and she enjoyed it. Draven on the other hand hadn't even broken a single sweat. Made sense seeing as he was the hybrid and had been fighting for years.

As Hiccup came in for one final strike. Draven tried to use his dodge-and-trip method again but Hiccup was too fast a learner and grabbed a hold of Draven as she tumbled. Try as he might, the hybrid couldn't maintain either of their balance and went down with her.

Both hit the ground with Draven landing on top of Hiccup. Both were also laughing at all the fun they were having as they gaze into each other's eyes again. Whenever Draven's crimson eyes met with the emerald eyes of Hiccup, it was very easy for him to loose himself in them.

Both began to feel that unexplainable pull again. Both could feel a draw to the other as Hiccup blushed looking up to Draven, and the hybrid slowly leaning down to her. Their lips would have met had something not caught Hiccup's eye.

Turning her eyes to the sky, she saw the position of the sun and realised it was about mid afternoon. At the last moment, Hiccup turned her head sideways, causing Draven to pull his head back. 'Damn it Draven!' the hybrid scolded himself. 'Take it slow. You've just gone and made things awkward.'

"Sorry, I just remembered that Gobber set up two training matches today." Hiccup said to Draven in an almost apologetic tone.

As Hiccup was about to walk off, Draven said to her "I know a place where we can test the tail without to much worry for crashing." Hiccup smiled as she replied "Okay. We'll meet back here tomorrow after I've made some adjustments to Toothless' saddle."

With that, Hiccup said goodnight to Toothless and headed back to the arena while Draven and Violet headed home.

...

"Meet the Terrible Terror." Gobber announced the the teens as a tiny green cat sized stoker crawled out of a tiny door.

Seeing the small size of the dragon, the teens all thought this was some kind of joke. "Ha! That's like the size of my-"

Tuffnut was cut short as the green stoker dragon lunged at his face and began mauling on him.

"AH! GET IT OFF!" Tuffnut screamed to the other teens who were either trying to hold Tuffnut still or pry the dragon off of him. However what got the dragon off of the male twin wasn't the other teens, but Hiccup she was using her shield to reflect the sun's light to draw the Terror's attention, just like she had done earlier with Toothless. "OH, I'M HURT! I AM VERY MUCH HURT!" Tuffnut screamed in pain as the dragon left him and chased after the light. Slowly and carefully, Hiccup headed the Terror back to it's door, getting it inside and shutting the door.

"Wow, she's better than you ever were." Tuffnut said to a not to pleased Andor.

...

The next day, Hiccup had gotten up early again to get to the cove and retrieve Toothless' saddle to make the adjustments she needed. What was nerve racking for her was that the tools and equipment she needed for the adjustments were in her forge.

Luckily she was quick and discrete enough to make the modifications and get out of the village before anybody noticed.

Making her way back to the cove, her mind kept going over the moment she'd been spending with Draven. Since they were little, they had been best of friends and they were a lot alike in a way. Even where one had weakness, the other would compensate.

Draven was also there for her from the start. He'd always look out for her from when they were young to when he returned. From when he'd protect the forge durning the dragon raids, to helping her train in dragon riding and the arena. Even him helping build Toothless' riding gear and the sparring match they had the previous day. Especially with the two moments at the forge and at the cove after the sparring match. If it hadn't been for that group of Terrors from the forge, or the fact that she had to go back to training yesterday, she would have savoured those moments. That was it for Hiccup. She loved Draven. Her lifelong friend and the only person she could relate to. She loved him.

Reaching the cove and entering it, she greeted Toothless and strapped his saddle back onto him. "Morning." Hiccup herd a voice say above her. Looking up, she saw Draven atop Violet on the cliff side overlooking the cove. "Place I mentioned yesterday is this way." he said again with an gesture of his hand.

Mounting Toothless, Hiccup and the Night Fury followed close behind. Flying slow and low to the ground, Hiccup followed Draven to a cliff where there were gusts of wind blowing through the area. Hiccup saw that there was also a small tree stump on the edge of the cliff with a rope attached to it. She realised how they would run the test.

Over the next twenty minutes, Hiccup and Draven worked out the final flaws in the tail control, using the gusts of wind as a flying simulator. Going through each tail position, Hiccup marked them down on a piece of paper she had, until she had all the positions marked.

Closing the tail, Toothless landed gently and Hiccup patted his side. Wanting to try one more test through each position, Hiccup opened the tail fully. Unfortunately it was at the exact same time a heavy gust of wind came through as Toothless took off, and the resulting force was simply too much for the rope to handle.

With the snap, Hiccup and Toothless blew back into the treeline and crashed once again. However, when they both tried to stand up, Hiccup felt a hard tug from behind her. Looking back, she same that the hook for her saddle belt had bent and had jammed her belt in place. Not only that, but a part of her own riding gear was damaged as well, meaning they were stuck together.

"Oh, great." Hiccup mutated with a roll of her eyes. Draven caught up and saw their predicament. When Hiccup saw the look in his eyes, she hesitantly asked "I don't suppose you have the tool at your place to get me out of this, would you?" Draven didn't have the answer she wanted. All he could do was slowly shake his head.

Moving closer and inspecting the latch, Draven said to Hiccup "There's only one place we can get that fixed and we both know I can't go there myself."

...

It was late in the evening now and most of the village was indoors preparing for sleep. Hiccup had managed to carefully and slowly sneak her way with Toothless towards the forge to get the crowbar to open the latch. While moving from ally to ally, Hiccup spotted a light coming down the street and realised it was a patrol. Quickly hiding Toothless, Hiccup leaned against the side of a building and acted natural.

"Evening Hiccup." the viking patrol said to her as he moved about the streets.

With him gone, Hiccup made her way to the forge where she saw a dark silhouette fly overhead and a shadow drop down from it, landing behind the forge.

Entering the forge, she saw Draven busy searching for the tools they needed. One was a large crowbar to pry the hook open, while the other was a smaller crowbar to get the hook back into shape.

As Toothless entered the forge, he looked around the place curiously and could smell that Hiccup's scent was all over the place. He quickly realised that this was where she worked. Continuing to sniff around, he inspected and tossed one of the buckets across the forge, making a loud crashing sound. "Think anyone heard that." Hiccup nervously asked. "Nah, people here are heavy sleepers." Draven replied.

Getting to work, Hiccup and Draven began to try and pry the hook open with all their strength. What Draven found surprising was how difficult it was to pry a simply hook. With strain, Draven whispered harshly to Hiccup "What the fuck did you make this thing from? Gronckle iron? How the hell do you bend Gronckle iron?" Hiccup came clean. "It was the only thing I had at the time. I didn't think this would happen."

Both were interrupted when they heard a familiar voice right outside the forge. "Hiccup? Are you in there?" Andor called out. Sighing from irritation, Draven murmured "Andor. He just had to come out for a midnight stroll."

Hiccup began to panic. "What are we going to do?" she asked frantically. Knowing they only had seconds, Draven answered "Distract him for two seconds for me to get around the plaza. When I get his attention, get Toothless out of here."

He turned and ran out the back door into the shadows before Hiccup could reply. Acting fast, she put on her forge apron jumped out the front window to come face to face with Andor.

"Andor. Hey! Hi, Andor. Hi, Andor. Hi, Andor." Hiccup frantically said, barely able to hide her panic.

Andor went straight to the point "Hiccup, I normally don't care what people do, but you're acting weird lately."

This was torture for Hiccup she didn't know what to say to him. Just as Andor was about to take a step forward to her, a blue glow appeared in the night sky and the two could hear a voice.

Turning to where it was coming from, Andor and Hiccup could see the miniature Wraith coming down flying somewhat drunkenly. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa" he repeatedly said as he came crashing into the plaza. Slowly getting up, he said to himself "Ugh, note to self. Never dragon-nip and fly at the same time."

Draven had Andor's undivided attention, and Hiccup took the chance to get back into the forge, grab the tools they needed and try escape with Toothless.

Meanwhile outside, Draven stood back up and turned to see Andor staring at him with his hand over his dagger. "Andor, what you doing out here at this time?" he asked to try keep the blonde boy's attention on him.

"You...know my name?" Andor asked confusedly. "Of course I do." Draven replied. "I know the names of everyone on this island." Watching Andor, he saw that Andor was slowly drawing his dagger and looked like he wanted to fight. "What you going to do with that huh?"

In a flash, or rather a blur, Draven had covered himself in his purple smoke and had covered a distance of ten meters in a second. "First I'm here, then I'm here, oh wait I'm here." Draven commented as he kept blinking back and forth around Andor to keep his attention.

Andor was getting rather annoyed with this Wraith. Ever since it showed up it only ever caused disruption and interference. Andor shouted to Draven "I may not know who or what you are but you don't belong here. Either you leave or we will kill and behead you monster."

Raising his hands and shaking them, Draven mocked "oooo, scary" before continuing "If you're trying to hurt my feelings it's a wasted breath, because thank fuck I'm high as a kite and won't remember anything in a few minutes."

Knowing Hiccup and Toothless were already gone, Draven did the same and took to the sky, covering himself in his shroud to conceal which way he flew.

...

Back at Draven's forge, Hiccup took Toothless there to try undo the bent hook. Hearing a flapping sound, Hiccup looked outside to see Draven land and change back to human form. Enter in the forge, the two continued to pry the hook open.

After several minutes of pushing and pulling, as well as some heating by Draven's Fireworm side (careful not to damage the saddle) they got the hook open and Hiccup was free.

"Thank the gods that over." Hiccup commented with a relieved sigh. "That was way to close."

It was late now and Draven knew that there was no doubt that wild boars would be scavenging around. "Why don't you and Toothless stay here the night?" Draven said to Hiccup. Not protesting as she was extremely tired from the day, Hiccup agreed and went inside Draven's home. Toothless joined Violet in the stable.

Inside the home, Draven gave Hiccup his own bed while he prepared a blanket and pillow over by the fireplace. "I think we're just about finished." Hiccup told Draven. They had run all the tests they needed and worked out all the issues with the tail. Tomorrow , they would fly. Tomorrow, Hiccup would become a dragon rider.

...

Again, sorry for the wait. Sneak peak at the next chapter; Stoick returns home, Hiccup and Toothless go on a proper flight...and the Wraith returns. Next chapter will be up on this coming Saturday hopefully. See you guys then.


	9. Chapter 9: Draven vs the Wraith

The village was abuzz with activity down at the docks with Stoick's hunting expedition returning. Two of the ships Stoick had were sunk and the remaining ship was heavily damaged and had all surviving vikings cramped onto it.

Gobber made it down to the pier just in time to see Stoick climb out of the ship in a not to cheerful mood. "Well, I trust you found the nest at least?" the blacksmith asked in a cheering tone.

"Not even close." Stoick coldly and bluntly replied. "Ah. Excellent." quietly replied as he help some other men out of the boat.

As Gobber and Stoick were moving away from the pier and towards the ramps, Stoick turned to Gobber. "I hope you had a little more success than me." the chief asked.

"Well, if by success, you mean that your parenting troubles are over with, then... yes." Gobber answered.

"Congratulations, Stoick! Everyone is so relieved." Stoick and Gobber heard one viking woman shout out in excitement as she came past them.

"Out with the old and in with the new, right?!"

"No one will miss that old nuisance!"

"The village is throwing a party to celebrate!"

Stoick was surprised to say the least at what he was hearing people say. He was expecting to come home and listen to complaints from everyone about Hiccup. Then it dawned on him. "She's gone?"

Looking sideways a bit, Gobber replied "Yeah... most afternoons. But who can blame her? I mean the life of a celebrity's very rough. She can barely walk through the village without being swarmed by her new fans."

"Hiccup?" Stoick asked in confusion. Was he hearing it right? Was Hiccup actually becoming the most loved viking in the village and doing well at dragon training?

"Who would've thought, eh? She has this way with the beasts." Gobber confirmed. "Though some people have mentioned that they've seen her with her friend Hood from time to time. More so than often, like he's coming out more."

...

Meanwhile on the far side of the island where there was nobody to watch, Hiccup was atop Toothless with Draven alongside her atop Violet. Bother dragons and their riders were several hundred meters in the air as Hiccup and Toothless prepared for their thorough testing of the tail. Draven was following to observe and help out however he could.

"Okay there, bud, we're gonna take this nice and slow." Hiccup said to Toothless as she leaned down to his head and patted his side.

Looking at her sheet in front of her, Hiccup began testing the positions. "Here we go. Here we go... position three, no, four." she said to herself as she switched positions. As the tail flicked open, Toothless looked back to double check if the artificial fin mimicked his own. Seeing it worked, Toothless pulled a turn and felt that the artificial fin was working perfectly.

Seeing the tail work, Hiccup proceeded. "Alright, it's go time. It's go time." Hiccup said to herself as she and Toothless went into a steep dive with Draven and Violet following close behind.

With the speeds they could reach especially in the dive, they reached sea level in no time. Pulling up, Hiccup and Toothless turned towards the rock arch and accelerated.

"Come on. Come on, buddy. Come on, buddy!" Hiccup encouraged Toothless as they streamed towards and under the arch. Meanwhile behind them, Draven and Violet were actually falling behind. "Come on Violet. I know he's a Night Fury but at least try and keep up."

Looking back up to her rider with a smirk, Violet replied "Oh you want speed?" Not a moment later, Violet gave a powerful thrust of her wings and caught up with Hiccup and Toothless as they came out the other side of the arch.

"Yes, it worked!" Hiccup cheered to herself at how well the tail was preforming. Unfortunately Hiccup was so engrossed with the thrill of flying that she was getting as well as the fact that the tail was working that she wasn't paying attention. She and Toothless slammed into a sea stack.

"Sorry!" Hiccup apologised as she tried to steer Toothless away from the rock, only to slam into another. "That's my fault."

Hiccup realised what was wrong. With the tail in its current position, Toothless could not avoid the sea stack no matter how much he tried. "Concentrate Hiccup!" Toothless told her as he lightly hit her with his ear.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it. Position four, uh, three." Hiccup apologetically answered as she adjusted the tail and pulled up, with Draven still following.

Draven enjoyed watching Hiccup like this, seeing her smile as well as seeing that light of joy and happiness in her eyes.

Hiccup and Toothless continued to ascend into the aerial ocean, getting higher and higher with every thrust of Toothless' large wings. "Yeah! Go baby! Yes! Oh, this is amazing! The wind in my..."

She was cut short. The speed at which Toothless was climbing was too much for Hiccup's notes to stay in place.

"... CHEAT SHEET! STOP!" she screamed in panic. Hiccup tried to reach out and grab it before it would fly away but only succeeded in unhooking herself from leaning to far and coming off of Toothless' saddle.

Draven's eyes couldn't go wide enough when he saw Hiccup come off her saddle. The same could be said for Toothless when his back felt weightless and he began to fall as well.

"NOOOOOO!" Hiccup screamed as she and Toothless began to plummet. To make things worse, there wasn't much Draven or Violet could do to help without hurting someone. Not with how close Hiccup and Toothless were to each other. Hiccup knew this at least and quickly tried to get herself back in the saddle as she fell.

"Oh, gosh! Oh, gods! Oh, no!" Hiccup screamed again in panic as she saw the cloud go by, realising the ground would be soon after.

"Alright, okay! You gotta kind angle yourself!" she kept saying to Toothless to get him closer to her for her to get back onto him. "Okay, no, no, no... come back down towards me! Come back down- YOW!" Hiccup got struck by Toothless' tail in the process.

"Sorry!" Toothless shouted back as he tried to move beneath Hiccup for her to mount him.

Seeing their rate of decent, Draven couldn't help but shout out "HICCUP! YOU'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!"

Finally reattaching, Hiccup and Toothless leveled out and tried to pull up but it was no use. "You coming in too fast!" Draven shouted to the pair as he and Violet followed. Hiccup tried to hold out the diagram in front of her but with all the wind of their decent, the page was unreadable.

With the foggy sea stacks fast approaching, Toothless as well shouted in panic "DO SOMETHING!"

This was it for Hiccup now. Do or die. Tossing the sheet aside, she went on instinct and began gearing through the tail for Toothless to get through. "Whoa!" Draven said in awe as he saw how Hiccup and Toothless were streaming side to side as well as rolling through the sea stacks. If there was one thing Hiccup was, it was a fast learner.

Eventually after several seconds, Hiccup and her Night Fury emerged out of the sea stacks unscathed. "YEEAHHH!" Hiccup cheered. "You did it!" Draven cheered as well as he pulled up alongside them. Toothless too celebrated and fired a plasma bolt out in success.

Seeing the ball of fire ahead of them, Draven and Violet pulled to the side while Toothless carried on straight. "Ah, come on!" the female rider moped as she and her dragon flew the blaze of fire, emerging out as one mind

...

Late in the day as the sun passed its midday point and began it's journey back down to the horizon. Hiiccup, Draven and their dragons had landed by a secluded rocky beach for a rest. Enjoying the view, the quiet and each others company, the group enjoyed a good lunch. Hiccup and Draven each had fish, fruit and bread to snack on while the dragons each had a pile of fish.

Out of habit of politeness by dragon nature, Toothless ate one fish and regurgitated half next to Hiccup. "Uh... no thanks. I'm good." Hiccup said, gesturing to the fish she had over the fire. If there was one thing she did not want to go through again, it was eating half eaten/saliva covered fish.

The calm silence was broken when a small flock of Terrible Terrors along with Draven's Terror, Letters flew down towards their beach. Landing and scattering, three Terrors headed straight for Toothless and his pile of fish. They knew well enough to stay away from Violet because Letters warned them that she and Draven wouldn't take to kindly to it. That and because Draven was a Wraith.

Approaching Toothless pile, one Terror managed to snag one fish away whilst Toothless covered the rest and growled lowly, leaving the Terrors to fight over the one fish. His attention was pulled back to his own fish when he saw one start moving. Grabbing it and pulling back, a small green Terror emerged and tried to get the fish away from Toothless. It was to no avail as the Night Fury effortlessly pulled the fish away from the Terror and shoved it back. "You're gonna pay for that!" the Terror scolded as he prepared a fire attack on the larger black dragon, but as his methane built up inside him, Toothless fired a small plasma bolt into the Terror's mouth and ignited the gas.

The Terror puffed up like a balloon from the internal explosion and weakly walked away in a daze. Seeing his defeated expression as well as hear his stomach, Hiccup gave the small stoker one of her own fish. "Not so fireproof on the inside, are you? There you go."

Quickly gobbling up the fish, the stoker approached Hiccup and curled up on her lap for a rest. "Everything we know about you guys is wrong." Hiccup thought aloud to herself. Seeing the tiny stoker behave this way as well as everything she learned in recent days was proof of that. Looking to the horizon, she could see a storm beginning to form and head their way. A familiar black electrical storm.

Draven meanwhile had deciphered a note from Letters and let out a lowly growl of his own. "Five long years and you finally return." Draven coldly thought aloud. Hiccup never often heard Draven speak in a cold tone and was quickly able to figure out what was going on.

Getting up, Draven grabbed his sword and gear as he said to Hiccup "I've been using Letters to communicate with the other islands to determine when the Wraith would get back. He'll be here in 30 minutes. This note should have been here two days ago but as luck would have it, there had to be a delay." Mounting Violet, Draven took to the air with Hiccup and Toothless right behind them.

Quickly catching up with the hybrid and his Skrill, Hiccup nervously asked "What are you planning?" Looking over to her, Draven stated "Stopping that Wraith here and now before he's allowed to live another day. This is revenge for my parents and everyone else he's killed and changed over the years. It ends today!"

Gaining altitude as well as heading back in the general direction of the village, Draven said to the female rider "Hiccup, please promise me one thing. Please what ever you do, stay away from the village. Stay as far away from that Wraith as you can." before accelerating ahead towards the village. Hiccup in tern went into the forest to find a place to hide and wait.

...

Circling the village from high in the sky, Draven and Violet watched as the storm rolled in and blanketed the village. Soon after, a familiar blue glow moved through the thick clouds and towards the village. "There he is! This is it Violet. Remember, don't use your lightning on him when his airborne, you'll only make him stronger. Wait until I've grounded him and you have a clear shot." Draven said to the Skrill beneath him. "Got it." Violet plainly acknowledged.

Moving through the clouds until they could get a clear view of the glowing fear class dragon, Draven barked out "This time he dies, now go!" Accelerating hard, Violet venomously said back "With pleasure!"

Rolling off the side of Violet, Draven turned into his own Wraith form and flew alongside his Skrill companion. "Time to run this through that monster's heart." Draven said as he pulled out his katana. "This time rip it out of his chest!" Violet spat.

Meanwhile back on the ground, Stoick had rallied the entire village to fought the Wraith. Seeing the massive blue glowing, black armoured, silver horned, four winged monster appear sent chills down everyone's spines but they were intent on battling and killing this monster.

"HOLD FAST! PREPARE YOURSELVES! WRAITHS DON'T GO DOWN EASILY." Stoick said to the villagers as they readied their spears, crossbows, and swords. Seeing the mass of vikings beneath, the Wraith rolled through the clouds and conducted several bolts of lightning into itself before streaming back down to the village. He fired three plasma bolts down to the vikings and began to split them up as he picked out his targets, either to infect or eat.

Making his move, Stoick watched as the Wraith came down to strike at some of his men, but two additional plasma bolts from a different origin changed that. Two plasma bolts struck perfectly, sending the Wraith away from the vikings. Turning around, Stoick and the village saw the other Wraith and Skrill coming in fast.

Draven moved in first and fired another bolt at the Wraith, stunning it and allowing Draven to close in and stab his blade through the Wraith's shoulder. Trashing in the air, Draven had to pull out before the Wraith could attack.

As Draven flew into the cloud cover, the Wraith turned just fast enough to catch a glimpse of Draven's glow. "Another Wraith? Here? What are you doing attacking me you worm?" the Wraith shouted in anger.

With his attention drawn, Violet closed in from behind and dug her claws and teeth into the Wraith's back and neck. The Wraith tried to retaliate but again, Violet pulled away before he could. Turning his attention to the Skrill, he failed to notice a blue glow in the clouds directly above him.

Coming down with the speed of a falling star, Draven bullet-dived right at the Wraith with a plasma bolt charging in his hand. At the last second, Draven punched the Wraith as hard as he could whilst forming his plasma shot at pointblank range.

The force was too much for the Wraith to handle and he plummeted from the sky, crashing into the village plaza. Draven followed and landed in front of the fear class dragon while Violet circled above.

Staggering up, the first thing the Wraith saw was his opposition. The village also began to gather around, ready to strike but also somewhat curious as to the intentions of both Wraiths. What they were mainly interested in was how hostile their Wraith was being to the larger one. Sure they knew he was aggressive but they never pegged him as the type to actively try and kill someone, dragon and viking alike.

What the people of Berk were expecting least was for the larger Wraith to speak out for everyone to hear. "You! So you're the famed Wraith Hunter I've heard so much about." the Wraith coldly stated, glaring at the smaller dragon mutant. "Didn't realise I had a reputation." Draven plainly replied, not breaking his glare at the Wraith.

"Oh yes. I've heard tales of a strange breed of Wraith with a Skrill lapdog hunting and killing Wraith in a land far to the east years ago, as well as other Wraiths on the mainland last year."

Slowly circling one another, the Wraith said again "Our race is a dying breed. We cannot afford to have a runt like you pointlessly hunt us down." Before the Wraith could continue, Draven interrupted with surprise in his voice, "'Pointlessly'? You mean you honestly don't know who I am?"

"Does it matter?' the Wraith answered, not actually realising Draven was the boy from five years ago. "All I want to know is when will you stop this bloodlust for our own kind you ignorant pest? How many more Wraiths must die for you to be satisfied?"

Slowly pulling out his sword while getting into stance, Draven coldly replied with a growl "Just. One."

Stoick and the village watched eagerly as both Wraiths attacked one another, the smaller Wraith trying to break the larger one's defence with his sword and bladed wings, while the larger did the same with his claws and teeth. The two continued to parry the attacks between each other for about a full minute, with each clash between one's claws and the other's sword having an ear piercing crash between them.

Growing annoyed with the runt, the Wraith attacked again with a lunge to through his rival off balance. Draven reacted by back stepping and swiping his sword, cutting the Wraiths hand. The Wraith tried again but this time slithered his gargantuan length tail around Draven to attack from both front and rear.

Making his move, the Wraith tried to bite down on Draven but on this occasion, lightning does not strike twice. Knowing the Wraith would do a flanking attack with his tail, Draven responded in kind by driving his sword into the roof of the Wraith's mouth and out the top of his upper jaw. He also extended out his wings and ran both spiked tips into the Wraith's tail as it got close. "What! You think I'd fall for that flanking tail maneuver like I did five years ago." Draven mocked as the Wraith groaned in pain.

Pulling his wings back violently, Draven ripped the clawed tip if the Wraith's tail off, as well as firing a plasma bolt into the Wraith's mouth as he pulled his sword back. The Wraith staggered back as he coughed up blood and his tail bled profusely.

Seeing ground based assault as a losing fight, the Wraith stepped back and took to the sky with Draven in hot pursuit. "Where you gonna run? You're outnumbered and we're faster than you!" Draven shouted as he ascended into the clouds, right behind the Wraith.

However, this was what Wraiths specialised in. It was the specialty that made them what they were today. Adapting.

Firing more plasma bolts, Draven tried to injure and slow the Wraith down, but the larger dragon continually rolled from side to side to evade the attacks. Violet as well tried to move in on the Wraith but the fear dragon anticipated her assault and swiped his tail at her when he saw he come out of the clouds for a strike.

Violet was pushed back into the clouds and recovered fast enough to disappear from the Wraith before he could attack. Draven as well tried to move in with a sword strike but the Wraith dodged at the last second and shot Draven with a plasma bolt.

The blast stunned Draven who began to plummet with the Wraith intent on ending the fight. The Wraith began glowing intensely and the thunder and lightning within the storm began to intensity as well. Violet knew what he was doing and reacted.

Several lightning bolt shot out of the sky and towards the Wraith but at the last few meters before they could reach the Wraith, Violet intercepted them and absorbed them for herself. Swiping at the Wraith's face and leaving a scar, Violet quickly made a retreat where she was joined by Draven.

"He's adapting too quick. We got to get him back on the ground." Draven notified to Violet as they stayed in cover. Draven made sure to stay on the opposite side of Violet to where the Wraith was in order to hide his own glow. "How about the 'lightning dart'. I don't think he'll be expecting that." Violet suggested.

Not wasting any time, Draven latched onto the underside of Violet's neck and the Skrill turned towards the Wraith, flying at him with all speed. She then began charging her own lightning reserves as well as channelling lightning from the clouds into herself. With the built up charge, she wrapped her wings around herself and Draven and began to spin and whirlwind speeds. Finally, Violet opened up and launched a lightning charged Draven at their enemy.

The Wraith saw Draven coming in but couldn't get out of the way. With Draven's speed, he quickly closed the distance to the Wraith with a fully charged plasma bolt in his hand intent on another pointblank shot.

At the final moment, both Wraiths swiped at each other and both made their marks. Draven punched the Wraith square in the chest, sending the Wraith into a free fall while the Wraith made a perfect swipe at Draven, three claws scraping along the hybrids chest.

Seconds later, the Wraith crashed back in the village plaza while Draven crashed into one of the homes. "Okay...that one hurt." Draven painfully said to himself as he staggered up. Looking out the window, he saw the Wraith stagger up to get back into the sky but was also seemed unaware of Draven's presence. Making His move, Draven shot out of the window, unsheathed his sword again and took off the Wraith's wings as he passed over the fear dragon.

Draven didn't land but hovered several meters off the ground staring a this now grounded adversary. "VIOLET, NOW!" Draven barked out to the sky. He, the Wraith and the village watched as the Skrill flew through the center of the storm gathering every bolt of lightning she could muster. Once at full charge, she fired her entire load of lightning at Draven who in tern reached out with his right hand and began absorbing the enormous amount of electricity.

After ten whole seconds, Violet stopped and Draven landed. With the lightning inside him and him no longer conducting, it was safe for him to do so. Finally with Draven glaring daggers at the Wraith, he slowly began stepping forward while discharging plasma infused lightning at the wingless Wraith, electrocuting him as well as charring his skin and armour.

After several seconds of his onslaught, Draven ran out of lightning and stopped walking. The Wraith was near to dead now and could barely move as he wriggled and groaned. To make sure he couldn't move, Violet landed hard on top of him and dug her claws, spikes and teeth into the Wraith to pin him down.

Looking to the smaller Wraith, the dying larger one spoke out "The Skrill I know...But you...you seem familiar...Why are...why are you doing this?"

Draven was genuinely shocked. The Wraith didn't know it was him. "You mean you honestly don't remember me? I'm only the one who's life you destroyed all those years ago!" Draven furiously shouted whilst unintentionally marking an X in the ground with his foot. Slowly, he walked over to the Wraith with sword in hand.

"You!?" the Wraith answered in shock. He remembered. He remembered how he tried to infect that boy but was interrupted by a catapult. If anything, the boy should have died from the infection being incomplete, not become a hybrid. "What do you want?" the Wraith pleaded in, dare I say, a fearful tone. He was petrified of a dragon a twentieth his size who was intent on killing him and he wasn't the only one feeling it. Everyone around them began to feel a painful chill in the air. A chill of pure hatred and evil.

"Your life. I plan to collect on a debt." Draven darkly answered the Wraith. Seeing there was no reasoning with him, the Wraith finally said "Killing me? You'll regret this day!"

Cracking a small grin off the side of his mouth, Draven simply replied "I regret most of them already." before taking the final few steps and driving his sword into the Wraith's heart, stopping it once and for all.

"It's done." Violet said as she let go of the Wraith and breathed a sigh of relief. "Not yet." Draven said to her. Remembering what was about to happen, Violet backed away from the Wraith while Draven shouted out "Everyone back away!"

Seconds later, the dead Wraith glowed and began to dissolve while also secreting a blue mist from his skin. Glowing as well, Draven began absorbing the secreted mist while also groaning and growling from what it was doing to him.

The village and Violet then watched as his body began to change. His horns grew slightly larger as did his wings. His black armour also began to spread more over his skin and gained more consistent patterns over his body. Soon, his armour spread to the point where enough of his glow was covered for people to stop being blinded when they looked at him.

Eventually the metamorphosis halted and Draven dropped to his knees in disorientation. Seeing the vikings fast approaching him, Draven quickly turned to his Skrill companion and shouted "Violet, get out of here. Now!"

Knowing she couldn't get to Draven before the vikings without getting caught, injured or killed, Violet took off before the vikings could get to her. She went up and circled above the village in the now dissipating storm, knowing that Draven no doubt had a plan.

Back on the ground, Draven collapsed to the ground in a daze with vikings gathering all around him with weapons drawn. Spitelout tried to step in and run his sword into the mutant Wraith but was stopped by none other than Stoick himself. "Wait, not yet." Stoick firmly said to his cousin. Looking to the Wraith at his feet, he ordered to some of his men "Chain him up! Take him to the jail! This beast knows something."

...

Sorry to end it here guys but I'm having trouble planning the next scene where Stoick 'attempts' to interrogate Draven. See you next Sunday.


	10. Chapter 10: One problem replaces another

Wrapped up in a mesh of chains, harnesses and locks with over a dozen spears and crossbows on him, Draven's semi-unconscious state was being dragged off to the village jail. His glow was also close to nonexistent. His blue luminosity was as dim as a dying candle.

Under normal circumstances, Stoick would have let Spitelout kill the mutant Wraith but his curiosity was getting the better of him. Knowing that this dragon could speak fluently as well as clearly having his own agenda, Stoick figured that he'd maybe try to talk to it. A change from the usual viking habit of slaughter first, ask later.

Reaching the jail, most of the guards stayed outside while four others hauled Draven to one of the cells. The cell in question was only three by three meters big, where they sat him down on the chair in the middle of the cell while strapping and tightening the chains and harnesses all around the room to keep the hybrid immobile.

Hearing and seeing the hybrid begin to groan and twitch again was enough of a reason for the vikings tightening the chains in his cell to vacate quickly. Seconds after they shut the cell door, Draven was awake and started trailing his head from side to side, not making much eye contact with Stoick, Gobber or the other vikings while also growling lowly.

"Do you have a name?" Stoick calmly yet firmly asked, breaking the eery silence. No answer.

"Would you like to tell us exactly what you are?" Stoick asked. Again, silence. Draven continually looked around the cell and occasionally over his shoulder to the window where he could see the storm breaking and sun getting through. The hybrid eventually answered "Why I look different? I don't like being generic."

Wanting to at least get something out of the mutant Wraith, Stoick took a step forward. "Look, I know you can speak our language fluently and can do more that put a few words together. The whole village heard you and that other Wraith talk our words."

This caught Draven's attention. Glancing over to the cell door, he answered the chief "Hmph. Strange how losing one's mind in a haze of violence can make you forget what language you speak. I didn't even know we were speaking human." Looking away from the chief, he returned to his quiet demeanor.

After a moment of silence as Stoick contemplated everything he had seen the Wraith do in the months since he arrived. He then asked him "Do you maybe want to tell us if you have any kind of plan or perhaps an agenda for being on Berk? You and that Skrill don't behave like normal dragons, especially with how you always interfere with our fights."

Maintaining his low head and bland voice and demeanor, Draven simply replied "One objective was fulfilled ten minutes ago while the other is still underway. Although based on what I've seen, I'm quickly losing hope in that idea of the second. It's also that I believe no one on this island is ready for the answer."

Stoick was slowly beginning to lose his patience at how the dragon not seemingly taking the interrogation seriously based on his vague answers and bland tone. Rubbing two of his fingers over his forehead, he took a step over to a table next to the cell where one of the viking guards had placed the Wraith's sword.

Picking up the blade, the chief examined it, from its light weight, its smooth side, its razor diamond edge, and its jade handle covered in a gold wrapping. "I must say, this is an impressive blade you got here. I don't think anyone, not even trader Johan has seen its like before."

Again with his low voice, Draven answered "The Katana. My master gave that sword to me the day I completed my training." Raising an eyebrow at what the mutant Wraith said, Stoick asked "Training? Training for what?"

"Revenge." was the only word to coldly escape Draven's lips. "Revenge against that Wraith."

Hearing this, Spitelout the stepped forward and blurted out with a slight chuckle "HA! I never imagined dragons as the type to carry grudges."

"A grudge?" Draven said back in a low yet threatening tone. "A GRUDGE!?" he said again but shouted as he stood up from the chair and took a step forward to the cell door. He couldn't take a step further because of the restraints but it was enough to cause everyone in the room to step away in fear.

"That Skrill and I have waited five long years to kill that monstrosity after he destroyed both of our lives in five short hours. 'A grudge' is putting it mildly for what we had for him." Draven said in such a manner that chills went down everyone's spines as well as causing the air temperature to drop like a rock. Just like at the arena when Hiccup was hurt, Wraiths had the ability to freeze their surroundings when aggravated.

With the air thick with silence and Draven done venting his aggression, he sat back down, dropped his head and returned to his quiet state.

Stoick, Spitelout and several other vikings retired to the other side of the jail to talk amongst themselves. Gobber however was still standing near to the door of Draven's cell. Looking to the blacksmith, Draven could tell he had a question from the way he was staring. "Paint a portrait, it will last longer." Draven sarcastically said to Gobber.

Speaking quiet enough for only Draven to hear him, Gobber couldn't help but ask "It appears as though I'm one of the only people who saw you mark an X in the ground when you were talking to the Wraith."

Draven's eyes went wide at the statement. He didn't intend to but his subconscious made the X when he remembered the events of five years ago. Gobber continued "You did so when you said the words 'Five years ago.' Those words with the mark only bring one memory to mind."

Seek that the cat was out of the bag, Draven quietly replied to the blacksmith "Well at least here's one person who was smart enough to figure it out, though I'm surprisingly disappointed it's taken anybody this long." Pausing a moment to see Gobber's face change to one of pure shock, Draven continued "What would you do Gobber? I watched him vaporise my mother with a plasma bolt and electrocute my father who was defenceless in the water. I wasn't going to let him get to my closest friend so I did what I had to do." Seeing the group of vikings turn and make their way back, Draven dropped his head again and returned to his silence.

As luck would have it, Draven began to feel a stir within him as well as feel his body get hotter. When Stoick got back to Draven's cell door, the hybrid's glow began to return. With the extra patches of armour, only his hands, biceps, wings, calves, feet and the center of his chest could glow now, meaning his glow could no longer blind people. Still, it was a sign.

"What's going on?" Spitelout questioned at seeing the mutant Wraith glowing again. Slowly looking up with a grin, Draven answered "It doesn't surprise me that you don't know but that's because people hardly ever see a Wraith die. Specifically, when one Wraith is killed by another. The defeated Wraith dissolves and releases its essence and venom into the air. My absorbing it not only prevented any of you from becoming infected, but allowed me to evolve."

Slowly getting up, Draven continued with a slight chuckle "Speaking of which, I don't even know why I'm letting you hold me in these restraints."

With that, Draven focused on his now amplified Fireworm ability and pushed his body to full temperature in a matter of seconds. The chains around his body started steaming and glowing bright yellow and in moments, they had liquefied and fallen off his body.

Making his move to escape before Stoick and his men tried anything, Draven secreted his dark mist which now had a partial paralyzing effect and released it in the direction of the vikings. To add to his new abilities, he gained his Wraith tail but it didn't come out of his spine. It came from his right forearm, wrapped around like a tendril. Extending it out, he reached through the cell door and grabbed his sword. Pulling it back and sheathing it, the hybrid turned to the rear wall and shot it out with a plasma bolt.

With the wall gone, nothing was holding back the solar light anymore from reaching Draven. Only this time when it touched his skin, it didn't even hurt. It tingled and stung a little and he still felt that it was draining his strength, but he didn't feel as though his body would incinerate itself a two minutes. Stoick, Gobber and the other vikings came out of their paralysis just quick enough to see the Wraith extend his wings and take to the sky.

Leaving the jail Stoick placed a hand on his best friends shoulder. "Gobber, did he say anything else when the others and I were discussing options?" the chief asked the smith. Gobber was caught off guard to say the least and was quiet for a few moments before he decided. Turning to Stoick, all he answered was "Nothing interesting. Just continually mumbling about gibberish."

Nodding, Stoick went about his business around town while Gobber returned to the forge, still trying to comprehend what he had heard.

...

Although he now had an immunity to sunlight, Draven could still feel himself growing weaker by the second as he tried to get back home. The three deep gashes on his chest from where the Wraith hit him wasn't helping either.

Reaching the secluded part of the wood where his home was, he noticed something on his way down. He noticed that Toothless was down there.

Getting weaker from the solar light and his injury, he didn't have full control over his decent. Bracing himself, he flared his wings as much as he could at the last moment but he still hit the ground with an audible thud and rolled several meters.

Hearing the crash, Hiccup rushed out of the forge where she was waiting for Draven and saw him on the ground. Rushing over, she saw how he had changed as well as how weak he was in his state.

Draven heard Hiccup's footsteps as she approached and slowly rolled onto his back. "Draven!? You're hurt!" Hiccup said fearfully as she pulled Draven's arm over her shoulder to help him inside. "Ha. You should see the other guy." Draven joked back to her.

Stepping inside, Draven turned back to human state as Hiccup helped him to his bed. "Bottom shelf, left side." Draven said to Hiccup as she sat him down. As she set him down, Hiccup went over to the cabinet Draven mentioned and found a small jar with a blue pasty liquid inside. It was his healing formula. Even though Draven had the ability of accelerated healing, the gashes on his chest were too deep to heal properly on his own.

As Hiccup brought the jar over to Draven, the hybrid took off his coat so he could more easily get to his injury. Draven then proceeded to take the formula from Hiccup and start applying it to the wounds under his shirt.

After several seconds of groaning and a steaming sound, his wounds were healed but Hiccup could still see that his shirt was stained in blood and he was still in a weakened state.

"Take off your shirt." Hiccup asked Draven.

"What?" the hybrid answered rather surprised and confused.

"Take off your shirt!" Hiccup said again but in more of an order than a request.

She then made her way to Draven's kitchen to fetch a bowl of water and a rag. As she did, Draven did as she instructed and removed his torn bloodstained shirt.

Returning with the water, Hiccup saw all the details of Draven's mutated arm and how it changed to human flesh at his shoulder with several veins leading to his chest and up his neck to his right ear.

Soaking the rag, Hiccup began cleaning up the remaining bloodstains on Draven's chest. The gashes in question were almost fully healed now and would soon turn to scars that would disappear, but in the mean time Hiccup was just trying to clean the blood.

With the contact she was making with Draven in doing so, she also saw and felt his toned muscles. They weren't large but they were defined. She continued wiping the blood, going from the bottom of his ribs up to his shoulder.

As Hiccup finished up cleaning the now healed wounds, her emerald eyes couldn't help but trail up to meet with the crimson eyes of Draven. For a long time, the two teenagers gazed into each others eyes and both began to feel their heartbeats quicken.

Draven trailed his right hand up to Hiccup's face where she felt that warm comforting sensation once more and their faces drew closer together. Closing their eyes, Hiccup and Draven zoned out of the world around them. The only other person that existed in the world was the one in front of them.

Finally closing the remaining distance, Hiccup's and Draven's lips met together where the two teenagers sank into the sensation of their kiss. It didn't matter to them that one was human while the other was half dragon. To them, they followed the wishes of their hearts and souls.

Time itself almost seemed to stop for them. The thing that brought them out of their trance was when Draven felt a tear roll down his cheek but it wasn't his. Opening his eyes and separating their kiss, Draven could see that Hiccup was breaking up and more tears were about to flow.

"Hey, hey. What's wrong?" Draven asked soothingly, half suspecting he may have did something wrong. The only answer Hiccup gave his was moving from her chair to his bed and wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, burying her head into his collarbone.

It didn't take long for Draven to figure it out. He almost died. If he died, what would be left for Hiccup and the same could be said if it were she to do so. Both only had each other in their entire lives and if one died, who would be there for the other.

Wrapping his own arms around her, Draven spoke soothingly again and with control in his voice "Hiccup. What was the one thing I promised you when you first learned about me several days ago?"

Hiccup pulled her head back to look him in the eyes, but was still trying hard to hold back her tears to answer. Draven continued "I promised I would NEVER leave you again. If not for you, I would have never come back to this island. If not for you, I would never have had found the drive to face the last five years."

Hiccup's managed to crack a smile and she felt her tears beginning to cease. Tightening their arms around each other, the teens pulled each other into another kiss. When they separated, the gazed into each other's eyes once again before Draven whispered to the one person he loved "Come with me."

...

Back in the skies over the island, Berk's two dragons riders soured through the clouds as they watched the sunset. It was the feeling of the vast open space of the sky as well as slicing through the clouds that the two dragon riders loved so much about flying.

Over the next two hours of the sunset, all they did was fly. No flips or spins. They just flew, occasionally reaching out for clouds as they sometimes flew around them.

The bright golden orange of the afternoon sky was eventually replaced with the darkness of the night sky, only to be filled with a vast array of emerald greens, violet purples and cyan blues as auroras dance back and forth between the stars. The riders and their dragons ascended above the cloud line to get a better look when Hiccup said to Draven who was flying on her right side "Have you ever seen a more amazing sight in your life?"

She was still gazing up at the sky when she asked and honestly, Draven had never seen a more beautiful sight. Sure he'd seen auroras up close dozens of times in the past, but those had nothing on the sight he beheld right now. The auroras coupled with the fact that he was sharing this moment with Hiccup was truly a moment he'd remember for all time.

"Nope. Never." Draven answered Hiccup. Looking over to him, Hiccup saw that he wasn't stating that the sky but directly I to her eyes, and couldn't help but blush.

After several seconds, Draven gained a devilish smile and dived back into the clouds towards the forests and coastline. Hiccup followed close behind and for the next twenty minutes, they played. Ducking and diving in and out of the trees of the forests and the sea stacks of the coastline, the riders and their dragons chased each other around the island, laughing and always trying to overtake each other.

Soon however, it was time to stop and the pair made their way back to the cove.

Landing, Hiccup dismounted Toothless who rubbed his head against her to say goodnight. Hiccup then jumped on the back of Violet's saddle with Draven and the two made their way back to the village.

"Ah, young love." Toothless said with a bit of a laugh as he watched the two riders disappear into the night on the back of his Skrill partner.

Returning to the village, Draven kept Violet low to the waters and within the shadows as he maneuvered his dragon to the forge. Using his improved vision, he could see that the area around the forge was completely vacant. The heat signitures of Gobber and everyone else was inside their homes or in the great hall.

Landing only long enough for the riders to dismount, Violet took to the air again and into the shadows of the night.

Keeping his hood on while in the village, Draven walked Hiccup to the rear entrance of the forge where the teenagers stopped to gaze into each others eyes once again. "Well, goodnight." Draven said to Hiccup. Leaning closer to him, the two teens pulled each other into another deep kiss before pulling back. "Goodnight." Hiccup said back as she entered the forge.

Draven's mind was in a haze of bliss. He'd been flying for years, yet those sensations he got couldn't compare to the feeling he had now. Even though on the ground, he felt as though his body was weightless and was five miles up. Letting out a long breath, he turned towards the cliff and stepped off the edge, landing perfectly in Violet's saddle as she passed under.

"Well?" Violet asked her rider with a wide grin as she look back to him. "You're referring to last week when you blew my cover aren't you?" Draven answered his Skrill.

"What are those two words?" Violet said, again with her grin. Rolling his eyes and giving in, Draven said to his Wraith "As much as what you did was reckless -even-though-I'm-more-so-... Thank you."

With that, the Wraith hybrid with his Skrill companion returned to their secluded cottage in the woods.

...

Hiccup was sitting in her private study with her head rested against the table. Her mind too was in a daze of bliss with a wide smile on her face as she flicked her pencil up and down on her table. Her mind kept on replaying all the days events, from she and Draven having breakfast together, to her successful yet life threatening flight with Toothless to the flight she and Draven shared in the afternoon. And their kiss.

Her mind was pulled from her thoughts when she heard a sound and felt a pressence by her study door. Turning her head, she saw a familiar large red haired and bearded viking. "Dad! You're back! Gobber's not here, so..." she said in a panicking tone, trying to gather up and cover all her sketches of Toothless and his riding gear on her table.

"I know. I came looking for you." Stoick interrupted with a soft voice.

"You did?" Hiccup asked in surprise.

"You've been keeping secrets." Stoick said firmly, taking a step towards Hiccup.

"I... have?" Hiccup returned, growing more nervous by the second.

"Just how long did you think you could hide IT from me?"

Hiccup could barely contain her nerves. Did he find out about Draven or Toothless? "I don't know what you're..." she said, again trying to act innocent.

"Nothing happens on this island without me hearing about it." Stoick firmly said.

"Oh?" Hiccup aid questioningly, still hoping he wasn't talking about what she thought he was.

Taking another step towards his daughter, Stoick said "So. Let's talk about that dragon."

That was it. Her cover was blown. Someone had to have seen her with Draven's Wraith form or Toothless. "Oh, gods. Dad I'm so sorry. I was going to tell you. I just didn't know how to-" Hiccup said in a close to shaky voice.

What she wasn't expecting was for Stoick to start laughing.

"You're not... upset?" Hiccup asked cautiously.

"What?! I was hoping for this!" the chief bellowed somewhat excitedly.

Hiccup was confused to say the least. "Uh... you were?"

"And believe me, it only gets better!" Stoick continued, "Just wait 'till you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time! And mount your first Gronckle head on a spear! WHAT A FEELING!" He gave her a pat on the shoulder but with his strength and Hiccup's small size, it may have well been a punch as she stumbled back and fell into a basket behind her.

" You really had me going there, dear. All those years of the worst Viking Berk has ever seen! Odin, it was rough! I almost gave up on you! And all the while, you were holding out on me! THOR ALMIGHTY!" Stoick cheered as Hiccup climbed out of the basket.

Taking a seat, Stoick continued "Ah. With you doing so well in the ring, we finally have something to talk about."

For a long while, there was an awkward silence between the two as Hiccup struggled to maintain eye contact with her father, if she could still call him that. How was it that he only now gave her positive attention with the dragon training. Why couldn't he just accept her for who she was?

"Oh, I... brought you something. To keep you safe in the ring." Stoick pulled out and gave Hiccup a horned helmet.

"Wow. Thanks." Hiccup said, trying to act surprised and joyed.

"Your mother would've wanted you to have it." Stoick mentioned as he gestured to it while Hiccup ran her hand along it. "It's half of her breast plate." he finished.

Those words were weird enough for Hiccup to pull her hand back.

"Matching set. Keeps her close, y'know?" he said , gesturing to his own helmet.

Putting the helmet down, Hiccup heard her father then say to her "Wear it proudly. You deserve it. You've held up your end of the deal."

"Oh, and one other thing." Stoick said to his daughter. 'Uh, what now?' Hiccup thought. She just wanted to be alone now.

"I've heard about Hood coming out a lot more and that people have seen you two spending time together." Stoick said in a curious manner. Hiccup's panic began to return. Had someone seen his face or his Wraith form.

Waving her hands in the air, Hiccup quickly tried to deter her father "What!? Oh, we.. Dad, you know we're just friends. I mean he's a bit of a hermit who's alone a lot... But he's just looking for attention... He's weird, don't worry about that."

Nodding, Stoick felt reassured that Hood was still seemed like a passive/neutral hermit who hadn't been trying anything suspicious. "Okay then."

Stretching out her arms, Hiccup put on a fake yawn while saying "I should really get to bed."

Talking at the same time, Stoick slowly made his way outside while Hiccup kept trying to get him to leave "Yes! Good! Okay. Good talk. See you back at the house. We should do this again. I'm great. Thanks for stopping by. Glad I stopped by, I hope you uh, like the hat. And for the... the breast hat." they both stuttered out until Stoick was finally out the door.

"Well, uh... good night." Stoick finally said before squeezing out the door, accidentally bumping over a sword rack from his excitement.

Hiccup on the other hand felt as though a knife had gone through her. She just couldn't her a break. If it wasn't everyone hating her for her mistakes, it was now everyone rooting for over because of a lie.

Laying down on the bed in her study, she couldn't hold back a couple of tears as she tried to plan on how to get herself out of her current situation. That's when she began to think; to try drop out of training, and work with Draven to get more dragon riders and change Berk from a land of violence and killing, to one of peace and cooperation.

Only time would tell.

* * *

><p>Sorry about the last two chapters being shorter than my previous ones.<p>

Also, I'm aware that there are many spelling or grammar mistakes in previous chapters. The reason for this is that I work on a tablet and I'm a speed typist. As a result, some sentences make no sense and I don't notice these until after I've put them up. If you guys don't mind, whenever you spot one please notify me in my PM and not in the review.

Other than that, let me know what you guys think of the story thus far. We're almost at the home stretch.


	11. Chapter 11: Revelations

Well the creative juices wouldn't stop flowing this week, so here's Chapter 11

...

It was yet another cloudy day the following morning. Both Hiccup and Draven woke up in their homes bright and relaxed, yet at the same time knew that their troubles weren't over. Even with the threat of the northern waters Wraith now gone, the problem of the war was still their biggest concern, especially with all the attention Hiccup had drawn to herself during dragon training.

Violet was still sound asleep when Draven left the cottage with his hood and mask on and made his way to the village. He knew that with Stoick back, and Hiccup so close to achieving the final exam in the arena that he had to come up with something.

Making his way to the village was also a risk for him due to the fight the previous day. Him being so lost in both his memory of when the Wraith infected him as well as his burning hatred towards the now deceased fear dragon led to his subconscious probably giving away his secret. It was a risk he had to take.

When he reached the village, he acted casual and tried to stroll through as if he knew nothing. He received a few greetings from some of the villagers as he passed them which was at least comforting to him that they might not know.

Reaching the plaza, he saw a large blackened burn mark on the ground made by when the Wraith had dissolved. Soon after he saw Gobber emerge from the forge heading towards arena. Looking around the village, Draven saw most people were headed that way.

"Morning Hood. Came to see Hiccup in training today?" Gobber cheerfully asked him. Gobber's tone of voice was enough of a reassurance that his cover was still intact. That and the fact that Gobber didn't know he could revert back and forth between his two forms and while in human form, kept his left hand ungloved. Also coupled with how even his voice got deeper and rougher whenever he changed.

"Uh, yeah. What happened here? I heard screams and explosions all the way from my home yesterday afternoon." Draven asked Gobber, trying to sound as curious as possible as not to blow his cover.

Looking to the burn mark, Gobber answered "The Wraith that we see every raid fought and killed a bigger Wraith that was last here five years ago. Iv'e never seen anyone fight with that kind of rage before."

Seeing the surrounding damage from the fight, Draven commented "Must have been a hell of a fight." Looking at the damage as well, Gobber replied "Aye. Though after yesterday, I'm not sure what to think of the smaller Wraith anymore."

With that, Draven left the plaza and slowly made his way towards the arena looking for Hiccup along the way. About half way there, it wasn't he who found her , but she who found him. As he passed one of the homes, an arm reached out of an ally way and pulled him in.

Looking to who it was, he immediately saw those two emerald eyes of the one he loved. "Hiccup?!" he said as he noticed her nervous form. Hiccup didn't answer as she let go of him and paced back and forth in the shadows.

She eventually broke the silence. "Draven. I've been up half the night trying to think on my options now that my father is back. Maybe I shouldn't have progressed so far in dragon training but I wasn't thinking this far ahead."

Checking over his shoulder to make sure nobody would see them, Draven stepped closer and replied "Well to be fair, it's my fault as well, but that's why we live with the consequences of our choices. Just look at me in my quest to be better looking." Draven said, referring to the veins on the right side of his neck, his red eyes and the scar on the left side of his face.

Hiccup snickered slightly at how Draven always seemed to find a joke on a serious situation. Quickly returning to her serious side, she paced again while she thought aloud. "I can't simply forfeit without good reason and I have none. Injury won't help, my dad will just postpone the training until I get better. Basically whatever I do, my dad won't allow me to drop out."

After a moment of silence, Draven unhesitatingly said to Hiccup "Throw the match."

Hiccup looked back to Draven with a blank expression. Draven said again "Throw the match. Be present but don't try incapacitate the dragons. Just avoid them and let Andor get his glory."

Hiccup stared at the ground for a moment before replied "Okay. But what if something happens and that doesn't work."

Draven then paced for a moment until he let out a heavy sigh and answered "Honestly, I don't know. I'm fast running out of ideas with these people but most especially with Stoick." After another moment of silence, Hiccup willingly suggested "Then we leave."

Turning to face Hiccup again, Hiccup could tell Draven had wide eyes and raised eyebrows under his mask.

Stepping closer to him so they were mere inches apart, Hiccup said again "We leave. Tonight we ride out on our dragons and we find a new home far away from here." Placing her hands on the sides of his face inside his hood, she continued "Let's leave with each other. Together we can find a way to end the war."

"Hiccup." Draven said with a soft, tender whisper as he placed his hands over hers. She had changed so much over the past few days that it astounded him. She was no longer that fragile tentative girl from the previous week. "Okay." he acknowledged. With that, the duo made their way to the arena.

...

Nearly a third of the village was gathered at the arena to watch the last match before the finals. They along with Stoick and Gothi who were standing above the main entrance watched the two finalists, Hiccup and Andor eagerly. It was them verses the Gronckle again with several sets of cover scattered around the arena.

Draven also watched eagerly from the opposite said of the ring to Stoick. He kept to the shadows to remain discrete.

"Stay out of my way! I'm winning this thing." Andor coldly said to Hiccup as the Gronckle came out of her pen. With Hiccup doing to well in the ring and doing better than he was, his crush on her was turning into a loathing. How she always made him, the most talented fighter of the teenagers' look like a fool didn't seem at all possible to him.

"Good. Please, by all means." Hiccup plainly replied to the blonde viking with a gesture to the dragon.

The Gronckle was flying about aimlessly as she circled the arena. Hiccup was staying close to the edge ready to hide behind cover if she had to. Andor however was rolling in and out of cover to try and get close to the Gronckle so he could take her down

"You got it Andor!" some vikings cheered to the boy as he slowly got closer to the boulder dragon.

Rolling behind one of the last pieces of cover, he planned to make his move. "This time! This time, for sure!"

However as fate would have it, the Gronckle spotted Hiccup on the side of the ring. The girl with the dragon-nip. With a wide smile of joy, the Gronckle flew over to Hiccup as fast as she could, knowing the teenage viking girl was not a threat.

Meanwhile back on the other side of the arena, Andor was ready to strike. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" he cried as he ran to the dragon with axe in hand, jumping over cover that was in his way.

However when he got close enough, he saw it was all already over. The dragon was lying on her side with her leg twitching in the air, almost like a passive playful dog. The fight was over and the dragon rolled over by herself because of Hiccup, who's curled up position seemingly went unnoticed by everyone.

"NO! NO! SON OF HALF-TROLL, RAT-EATING MUNGE BUCKET!" Andor cursed as he violently swung his axe from side to side. How could she have beat him again? How could Hiccup, the runt of the group, be better at dragon training then him? It just did not seem at all plausible.

Draven too was less than pleased. "Oh for fuck sake!" he quietly cursed to himself when he saw the Gronckle roll over. Turning away from the ring, he made his way back to his home in the woods to get his things.

"Wait! Wait!" Stoick said with arms raised to quieten down the cheering crowds.

"So, later." Hiccup muttered as she tried to sneak away, but was caught by Gobber who was walking over to she and Andor. "Not so fast." the smith said as he picked her up by the back of her shirt to put her next to Andor.

"I'm kinda late for-" Hiccup pleaded and protested to get away from the ring, but as Gobber put her down, she was interrupted by Andor who was holding his axe up to her throat. "What?! Late for what, exactly?!" the blonde teenager scolded the other.

Seeing where Andor's axe was, Stoick quickly intervened. "ANDOR! Calm yourself!" Stoick ordered.

"Okay, quiet down. The elder has decided." Stoick spoke again as the crowd awaited the decision of Gothi.

Gobber raised his one hand over Andor, to which Gothi frowned and shook her head. Gobber then raised his other hand over Hiccup, where Gothi smiled, pointed and gave an encouraging nod.

The mere sight made Hiccup cringe, made worse by everyone beginning to cheer. "You've done it! You've done it, Hiccup! You get to kill the dragon!" Gobber bellowed in excitement.

"Ha, ha! That's my girl!" Stoick cheered.

Hiccup was lifted up in the air by the other teens who carried her out the ring, cheering her name as they marched.

"Heh. Oh, yeah! Yes! I can't wait. I am so...

...

... LEAVING!"

Hiccup could still barely believe what she saw. No matter what, she couldn't through the match no matter how much she wanted to. If that was bad enough, trying to slip away from the village was even more difficult.

They had taken her to the great hall where everyone was celebrating the victor who would have the opportunity to kill the Monstrous Nightmare.

Sneaking away from the celebration alone was also an almost insurmountable task. She even had to use one of the submission moves Draven taught her to cripple Snotlout when he grabbed her shoulder trying to flirt with her in order to get away from him.

Making her way further into the cove, she called out to Toothless. "We're leaving. Let's pack up. Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation, forever."

Placing her basket on the ground to double check if she had everything she needed, she spotted something out the corner of her eye.

Looking up, she saw a well built blonde Viking boy sharpening his axe as he sat on a boulder. "Aggh! What the- What are you doing here Andor?" Hiccup said in surprise and panic.

"I want to know what's going on." Andor dryly said as he got off the rock and began walking towards Hiccup. Out of common reaction, Hiccup slowly backed away.

"No one just gets as good as you do. Especially you. Start talking! Are you training with someone?" Andor said in a hostile interrogating tone.

"Uh... training?" Hiccup stuttered.

"Is it that 'Hood' guy?!" Andor asked, saying Hood's name as if it were something evil or forbidden.

"Uh...Um...Uh." Hiccup continually stuttered. She just couldn't think of a good excuse quick enough to answer Andor's questions.

"Is it something to do with this?!" Andor questioned, tugging on Hiccup's riding harness

"I know this looks really bad, but you see...this is, uh..." Hiccup stuttered out, waving her arms in the air.

Grabbing one of her wrists tightly, Andor pulled Hiccup back towards him to stop her from backing away. Seeing that between her outfit and the basket full of supplies, Andor began to wonder. "Are you going somewhere Hiccup?" he asked.

Hiccup kept trying to pull her hand back which was now beginning to sting from how tight Andor's grip was. "Andor please let go of me!" she pleaded.

"You're abandoning your village?" he asked again, tugger her closer to him.

"Andor let go of me!" Hiccup pleaded again but this time she was raising her voice.

The idea of her leaving began to stir his emotions for her again he couldn't allow that. "You could have just asked for help Hiccup! You could have just asked me!" Andor firmly said with frustration on his voice.

At this point, Hiccup realised Andor wouldn't let go by himself. Using none of the moves Draven taught her, she grabbed Andor's hand with her free one and twisted his arm whilst sidestepping. Andor was forced to let go and stumbled but was able to keep his footing.

"Oh sure, like you were always there for me or helped me when I needed it!" Hiccup sarcastically scolded to the blonde viking.

Toothless began to hear the commotion. He could hear Hiccup arguing with a male, and heard that the make voice didn't belong to Draven. Coming out of the rocks where he was resting, he spotted Hiccup arguing with someone that clearly had a hostile demeanor about him. Growling loudly, he began stalking the male who was threatening his rider and friend.

Hiccup and Andor heard the growl as well as a twig snap. "Oh man." Hiccup whispered to herself as she grew more nervous with every passing second. Andor stepped around her despite her efforts to stop him and that's when he spotted a large black winged shadowy figure. It was a dragon.

"Get down!" Andor said as he tackled Hiccup to the ground. Getting back up, he raised his axe as he watched a Night Fury roar out and run towards them. "RUN! RUN!" He yelled to Hiccup.

As Toothless leapt in the air to attack Andor, Hiccup stepped in the way and grabbed Andor's axe before he could attack. In one swift motion, she pulled it from his hand and tossed it aside.

"No. It's okay! It's okay... he's a friend. It's okay." Hiccup said as she tried to calm Toothless down, whispering gently to him and stroking his snout.

Andor tried to crawl towards his axe but as he was about to place his hand on the handle, a sword came down and pegged on the ground in front of him, preventing him from getting his axe. Slowly looking up, his eyes saw that not only was Hood standing over him, but Hood had the sword the Wraith used as well as his right hand and forearm being exposed. It was Wraith-like. Beside him was the Skrill.

Shaking his head as well as his finger, Draven pulled his blade out the ground and used it to push the axe further away from Andor.

Andor staggered up and backed away slightly. He was completely redefining the idea of confused. Hiccup was calming a Night Fury, and Hood had the Wraith's weapon and right arm. He was the Wraith.

"You just scared him." Hiccup reassured Andor as Toothless calmed.

"I scared him?! Who is "him"?" Andor questioned, staring back and forty at the Night Fury and Hood with the Skrill.

Gesturing to her group, Hiccup answered "Andor, Toothless, Violet and Draven. Toothless and Violet, Andor."

Did Andor hear that right? DRAVEN? Draven was dead, this couldn't be him. Not saying a word, he slowly backed away before turning and running for the path out of the cove.

"Da, da, da! We're dead." Hiccup muttered as she rolled her eyes. Turning to Toothless, she saw him walking the other direction. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Where do you think you're going?!"

...

Running as fast as he could, Andor tried to get back to the village to tell everyone about Hiccup's little secret. About how she was friends with the Wraith and a Night Fury.

While running, there was a log in his path. He tried to leap over it but his feet never found the ground as he felt a large scaly paw grab his arm. "Oh, Great Odin's ghost! Oh, this is it!" Andor screamed in terror as he went higher and higher above the treeline. Looking up, he saw he was in the clutches of the Night Fury.

"Boy's got some lungs on him doesn't he?" Violet said to her rider as the two watched from one of the trees.

After grabbing Andor, Hiccup doubled back to the cove, where Toothless dropped Andor on the top branch of a large tree. To make sure he couldn't simply climb down to get away, Toothless landed on the tree as well, causing it to bend over the cove for a forty meter drop.

Andor tried to gain his bearings as he clung to the branch and noticed the Skrill perched on an adjacent tree with a black cloaked, white haired person on its back. It truly was Draven.

Seeing Andor's eyes go as wide as they did, Draven simply said to him "Oh don't look so surprised Andor. I was resilient at age 11 when I took on the Wraith and I'm still resilient today at age 16. It takes more than a Wraith to kill me."

Andor turned his attention back to Hiccup and fearfully shouted to her "Hiccup, get me down from here!"

"You have to give me a chance to explain." Hiccup calmly asked him. She had to try and convince Andor that dragons were not the enemy.

"I am not listening to ANYTHING you have to say!" Andor snapped back.

"Then I won't speak. Just let me show you." Hiccup calmly said as she offered her hand out. "Please, Andor."

Seeing no other alternative, Andor pulled himself up the branches and climbed onto Toothless with Hiccup. A sight Draven didn't exactly enjoy very much.

"Now, get me down." the blonde viking said tentatively.

"Toothless, down. Gently." Hiccup said to her dragon with a tap on his side.

Slowly, Toothless extended his wings, catching the air and allowing the tree to return to its vertical shape.

"See? Nothing to be afraid of." Hiccup said to Andor over her shoulder.

Meanwhile, Toothless' eyes turned left towards Draven and Violet. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Toothless devilishly said to the Skrill and Wraith. "What you asking me for? I would have done it already." Draven replied.

Hiccup heard him speaking in dragonese and wondered what he and Toothless were saying. "We'd like to apologise in advance for this." Draven stated to his female rider companion.

"For what?" Hiccup hesitantly asked.

Barely half a second later, Toothless shot into the air like a missile with Draven and Violet close behind. "WHOA! TOOTHLESS! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! BAD DRAGON!" Hiccup pleaded to Toothless to calm down. Andor meanwhile was screaming his lungs out in sheer terror and was barely holding on.

Toothless eventually leveled out and allowed Andor to try adjust himself so he wouldn't fall off. "He's not usually like this. Oh, no..." Hiccup said as Toothless went into a steep nosedive.

The Night Fairy reached ocean level in seconds, and repeatedly flew into the waves to try and soak Andor, but also soaked Hiccup as well.

"Toothless, what are you doing?! We need him to like us!" Hiccup pleaded for her dragon to stop. "Not until he apologises." Toothless replied as he pulled up again sharply and started spinning while he ascended.

What made it worse for Hiccup was that Draven was simply following behind on Violet and did absolutely nothing but follow. To be more precise, he wasn't making any attempt to help Hiccup. He was however helping Toothless to scare the hell out of Andor. "And now the spinning. Thank you for nothing, you useless reptiles." Hiccup whined out at how her three dragon friends were only making their situation worse.

Reaching altitude again, Toothless went into yet another dive. This time, Violet pulled along side Toothless as he was falling for Draven to get Andor's attention. "Hey, Andor! Look, no hands! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" the hybrid screamed out mockingly as he let go of his saddle, only staying seated by his belt.

"YOU'RE NOT HELPING!" Hiccup screamed out in annoyance to Draven. Then again, it actually didn't come as a surprise to her based on how well she knew him behave. "I KNOW! AAAAAHHHHH!" Draven jokingly continued.

Andor couldn't handle it. He was clinging to Hiccup out of fear and was afraid for his life. "Okay! I am sorry! I'm sorry! Just get me off of this thing!" he begged with his eyes shut.

"That was all I needed to hear." Toothless said as he opened his wings and leveled out. As if flicking a switch, the ride went from utterly terrifying, to calm and stable.

With his breathing slowing down, Andor slowly opened his eyes again to be exposed to the awe inspiring world of the sky. Gaining his bearings, Berk and the luminous golden sunset were directly ahead. Draven and Violet were also flying alongside he and Hiccup on Toothless.

Gently, Toothless ascended to just beneath the cloud bank. With the mist of the clouds only inches away, Andor reached out and felt the cooled moisture pass through his fingers. With the view, the warmth of the afternoon sun and the coolness of the wind and the clouds, Andor began to feel a strange feeling within. It was the feeling of being in the vast open space with no one around you. It was the feeling as though no one could bother you. Just like Hiccup and Draven, it was the feeling of freedom.

Ascending higher, Toothless and Violet along with their riders maneuvered in and out of the clouds, with everyone taking in the warmth and cool air. Draven however was still keeping an eye on Andor. The simple sight of him riding with Hiccup was enough to make his skin crawl.

For hours, Hiccup and Draven flew around the island again and again, flying above and below the clouds until the sun was completely gone. Like the previous day, the sky was replaced from a golden honey glow of the sun, to the dancing emeralds, violets and cyans of auroras.

The group eventually passed over the village which was almost enchanting as Andor saw it illuminated in the shadows of the night.

"Alright, I admit it. This is pretty cool. It's... amazing. He's amazing." Andor friendly admitted, patting Toothless on his side.

"And there's only one way you can experience this, and that's from the back of a dragon." Draven added. Leaving the village, the group flew back out over the ocean.

"So, what now?" Andor asked as he looked back to Hiccup in front of him.

Hearing those words, Draven looked to Hiccup to hear what she might say. He and her did plan to leave after all. Hiccup didn't answer. She simply let out a deep sigh and lowered her head.

"Hiccup, your final exam is tomorrow. You know you're going to have to kill a...kill a dragon." Andor said to Hiccup, whispering the last part as not to offend Toothless.

"Don't remind me." Hiccup dryly muttered.

Suddenly, Toothless, Violet and Draven began to hear a loud high pitched humming sound resonate through the night sky. "Gah!" Draven groaned as one hand clutched his head.

Hiccup and Andor turned to ask what was wrong but before they could, Toothless too had a reaction to the sound. The sound that he willingly obeyed like any soldier for years.

Diving sharply as well as flying from left to right erratically, Toothless began flying his own path. "Oh no, no! Not now! Not now!" Toothless repeatedly said to himself. If there was one thing he didn't want Hiccup to see, it was _**him**_.

"Toothless, what's happening? Whoa, what is it?" Hiccup asked, stroking his side and trying to get him to calm down.

Turning to Draven on her left, Hiccup asked the same thing. After a few seconds of dragonese, Draven replied "I don't know, I'm hearing some kind buzzing sound. Violet and Toothless hear it too but Toothless is the only one reacting to it. He just keeps saying 'I'm sorry' over and over."

The sound of beating wings is what brought them all to a state of silence as they suddenly found themselves right in the middle of a swarm. "Get down!" Hiccup whispered warningly.

The riders hugged their saddles as low as they could to blend with their dragons as they saw that they were completely surrounded on all sides by Nadders, Gronckles, Zipplebacks and Nightmares.

"What's going on?" Andor nervously whispered to Hiccup.

"I don't know. Toothless. You've got to get us out of here, bud." she pleaded to her dragon, still trying to calm him down with a pat on his side. Toothless didn't break formation with the swarm and nudged her hand away.

Draven meanwhile was noticing something. The swarm was approaching Dragon Island. He had tried countless times in the past to get to Dragon Island and find out why these dragons always attacked Berk but to no avail. The fact that he and Violet were outsiders always led to he and her getting attacked by the entire swarm and getting chased out. Even trying to simply talk to these dragons was pointless as they always avoided the answer to what he'd ask with heavy fear in their voices.

Now however, they weren't being attacked. Could it be because they were flying with Toothless and that Violet had picked up on the Night Fury's scent as part of dragon bonding? One thing that was for sure was that this was the closest he had ever been to the volcanic island and he was still not being attacked.

Looking around to the scenery, the two humans and the hybrid noticed a massive assortment of animals dead and alive being carried by the dragons, from sheep to yak, from sharks to other animals.

"It looks like they're hauling in their kill." Hiccup dryly muttered.

"Uh, what does that make us?" Andor quietly asked.

The riders simply followed the swarm staying as close and as low to their saddles as possible to hide. In seconds, the swarm broke out of the cloud bank into a dive where the group found themselves weaving in and out of sea stacks with heavy fog. Moments after, the colossal ash spitting orange glow of the volcano came into sight where the swarm soon entered a large cave headed towards the islands core.

The core of the volcano was smouldering hot and black as night with the only light coming from the lava pit beneath. Across the walls were countless dragons huddling together as well as hiding behind whatever cover they could find.

"What my dad wouldn't give to find this." Hiccup said aloud to herself at the sight of the dragon's nest.

Toothless was staring down into the pit where he knew Dragon Island's tyrant leader kept. "Why of all times did it have to be now? I've gone and put Hiccup in danger." Toothless said to himself, hoping that the Red Death would remain in his pit and not show himself.

Draven however was looking down into the pit as well but with cautious curiosity. 'Something's very wrong here.' he thought to himself as he noticed how the dragons weren't eating their catch but throwing it down into the pit of lava. "Violet, stay with Toothless." the hybrid said as he rolled of the saddle and landed on one of the secluded platforms with some cover on it.

"It's satisfying to know that all of our food has been dumped down a hole." Hiccup sarcastically mentioned as she saw all the animals being thrown in. "They're not eating any of it." Andor wondered.

The stream of dragons eventually halted and one final tired Gronckle came to hover over the pit. Where as all the other dragons brought in full heads of sheep, yaks and other large animals, all the Gronckle unfortunately had was one measly salmon, regurgitating it into the pit.

Tired from his travels and feeling that he'd at least provided, the Gronckle scratched himself while calmly hovering in the air.

However before he could fly off, a deep, menacing and displeased growl was heard throughout the chamber. Seconds later, two monumental jaws rose from the mist of the pit, vanishing the Gronckle with one simple swallow.

"What is that?" Andor said with dilated eyes and horror.

Hiccup looked over to her side to Violet to ask Draven but found he was nowhere to be found.

Her attention was pulled back to the larger dragon when she saw he didn't recede into his pit but kept his head raised as he began to sniff the air. "Humans!? In my lair!?" the goliath hissed as he picked up on the scent.

Hiccup didn't need any kind of translation. She knew of found them. "Alright, buddy, we gotta get out of here. Now!" she whispered to Toothless, but with the Red Death's hearing, she may has well shouted it to the heavens.

Turning his massive head to the origin of the sound, h quickly spotted the Night Fury with two humans on his back and a female Skrill next to him. The same Skrill that had cause his soldiers so much hassle with that mutant Wraith. "Night Fury? I always knew you were weak! Time to die whelp." the Red Death growled as he prepared to strike. However, before his head could move a single inch towards the platform Hiccup, Toothless and Violet were on, he was struck on the side of his head by a high powered plasma bolt.

"OVER HERE YOU INBRED TURD!" Draven taunted in full Wraith form with wings extended. His arms were alight with a blue flame as he began charge his eleven remaining plasma shots. His evolution upped his shot limit of six shots like normal Wraiths to six shots per arm.

The hive began to swarm as every dragon tried to vacate as fast as they could while the Red Death lunged at Draven. The hybrid however was too quick and effortlessly dodged while discharging multiple plasma bolts. The Red Death slammed into the wall of the cavern, where Draven took the opportunity to escape while the Death was in a daze, but not before firing four more plasma bolts to keep his foe down.

Meanwhile outside, Violet and Toothless managed to escape all with the swarm and were hovering outside the volcano's mouth waiting for Draven. After several straining seconds, Draven burst from the volcano glowing intensely as he flew into the cloud cover.

With all the strength he could, he gathered as much lightning as he could muster and fired a single colossal strike down the throat of the mountain. The bolt was powerful enough that it caused a severe cave in, in hopes it would keep the Red Death down long enough for them to escape.

Meeting up with Hiccup, he turned back to human form as he mounted Violet. "What in Helheim was that!?" Hiccup asked in shock to her hybrid companion.

"The Red Death. One of the biggest Stoker dragons alive. I've heard stories about the Death Dragons before but I didn't think they were true."

...

Minutes later, Toothless and Violet with their riders were back at the cove on Berk. Both dragons being the two fastest breeds alive made a point to redefine the phase 'Run like hell' as they raced away from Dragon Island. Their only objective was to get themselves and their friends away from Dragon Island as fast as their wings and the winds would carry them.

"No, it totally makes sense. It's like a giant beehive. They're the workers, and that's their queen. It controls them." Andor concluded as Toothless landed and he dismounted. "Red Death is a 'he'." Draven corrected.

"Let's find your dad." Andor eagerly suggested as he made his way to the cove's entrance.

"No, no! Not yet." Hiccup blurted out as she ran after Andor and grabbed his arm, stopping him. "They'll... kill Toothless and Violet. Andor, we have to think this through carefully." she begged. She knew that of all the teens, Andor would be the most willing to take this news to Stoick, but that wouldn't stop Hiccup.

"Hiccup, we just discovered the Dragons' Nest." Andor protested. "The thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here. And you want to keep it a secret?! To protect your pet dragons and...him?! Are you serious?!" he said with a gesture to Draven at the end. "No offence." he added apologetically.

"Some taken." Draven dryly replied.

Hiccup moved over to her hybrid companion and held his right hand with her left, interlocking her fingers with his. Looking back to Andor she answered him straight in the eyes, "Yes."

Andor looked at how close Hiccup and Draven were. Made sense. They were close as could be when they were younger, why wouldn't they be closer now.

Now he saw and knew why Hiccup was so happy over the past few days. She had gained her childhood friend back and their emotions clearly ran deeper than a simple friendship. That coupled with the fact that she was a dragon rider. Andor had to admit which he had that nothing in the world could compare to the feeling of freedom and the thrill of flying high in the sky.

"Okay." Andor answered. It was the least he could do for Hiccup. It would be pointless for him to pursue his crush feelings for Hiccup as she was already happy with Draven, and Andor knew that he'd never be able to make her smile the way Draven did. "Then what do we do?" he asked.

Quiet for a moment, Hiccup thought. "Just give me until tomorrow. I'll figure something out." she answered with a shrug.

"Okay." Andor said with a nod. "And for the record Hiccup; I'm sorry for everything, and also, thanks."

Hiccup cracked a smile as Andor left the cove leaving her with Draven and their dragons. She trusted his word as he was always an honest person and his words were sincere.

Getting the feelings of being watched, Hiccup and Draven turned to see their dragons standing next to each other and staring at them. "What are you looking at?" Hiccup questioned Toothless and Violet.

The dragons simply snickered and turned away. It was still strange to them how it took so long for Hiccup and Draven to admit their feelings for each other, seeing how their fingers were interlocked as well as sensing their feelings for each other from their pheromones.

Saying her goodnight to Toothless, Hiccup, Draven and Violet left the cove. Violet went home while Draven escorted Hiccup to the village entrance. "So much for leaving." Draven commented as they stopped walking at the bridge to the village.

"We can't leave Berk knowing that that monster is practically right next door us." Hiccup said. "As much as life here hasn't been the smoothest, this is still home, Draven. It's our home."

With that, the two gave each other one final kiss for the day and returned to their homes, preparing themselves for the next day which would no doubt determine the entire outcome of the war.


	12. Chapter 12: The arena

Before we proceed, I was browsing random pictures the other day and I found a picture as to what Draven could look like in his human form.

sm/ign_me/screenshot/f/ftrt-zmny-ntmn-n-tzwrh-assassins-creed/ftrt-zmny-ntmn-n-tzwrh-assassins-creed_

As for his dragon form, I did mention that the design is from my other stories. You'll see that design in the covers for my other stories.

I had a bit of trouble with this chapter but I hope I delivered. Enjoy.

...

The entire village was gathered around the arena. All of them were chanting Hiccup's name as they anxiously wanted to see Hiccup slay the Monstrous Nightmare.

Hiccup was waiting in the tunnel with Draven in his disguise right behind her. Both had met earlier in the day to discuss a probable plan for the arena and how they could try stop the endless slaughter of the war.

"Well, I can show my face in public again!" Stoick jokingly announced to the people from his podium.

"If someone had told me that in just few short days, Hiccup would go from being, well... Hiccup, to placing first in Dragon Training... Well, I would've tied him to a mast and shipped him off for fear he'd gone mad. Yes! And you know it! But here we are. And no one's more surprised..." Stoick excitedly said, earning cheers, whistles and nods from the people. "... or more proud than I am. Today, my daughter becomes a Viking. TODAY, SHE BECOMES ONE OF US!" he finished.

Everyone continued to cheer. Everyone felt a sense of joy. All but two viking teenagers who were in the tunnel. Hiccup most of all felt somewhat discouraged by Stoick's words. How he could only see himself being proud of her if she was a mindless dragon slayer like the rest of them. Why couldn't he just accept her for who she was, not who he wanted. Why couldn't he simply accept her for simply being his daughter.

"Be careful with that dragon." Hiccup and Draven heard a voice say behind them. Turning around, they saw Andor with a friendly sympathetic expression.

"It's not the dragon I'm worried about." Hiccup nervously replied as she turned back to the arena.

"What are you gonna do?" Andor curiously asked. He wanted to know the plan as to how Hiccup and Draven were going to stop the violence. If anything he was somewhat eager to help them however he could. After the flight from the previous day, even he had to admit that they were the bad guys, not the dragons.

"Put an end to this." Hiccup bluntly answered. Looking back to Andor, Hiccup noticed that he was eying her dubiously

"I have to try. Andor." Hiccup said again in a reassuring tone.

Turning to Draven, she stepped close to him and placed her hands on his shoulders. "If something goes wrong... just make sure they don't find Toothless." Hiccup asked her hybrid companion in a shaky voice.

Draven took his mask off so he could answer her face to face."I will. Just... promise me it won't go wrong." he said softly and comfortingly, placing his right hand on her cheek again. Even with his glove, Hiccup could still feel all his warmth coming through.

Gobber meanwhile was already in the ring making the preparations when he made his way to the gate to get Hiccup. It was then that he noticed Hiccup and Hood's close nature but more specifically, Hood without his mask. He couldn't make out too many details due to the shadow of the tunnel and Hood having his hood up but he was able to see a scar going over Hood's left eye.

Clearing his throat to get the teenagers attention, Hiccup turned to him while Hood turned away to conceal his face. "It's time, Hiccup. Knock him dead." Gobber encouragingly said to his apprentice as she entered the ring. Gobber as well left the ring and went to join Stoick at the main podium, somewhat suspicious to Hood.

"Show 'em how it's done, Hiccup!" the other teens encouragingly cheered to her as she made her way to the weapons wall while putting her helmet on.

At the wall, where most people could have taken a spear, and axe, a sword or a hammer, Hiccup grabbed the most harmless looking weapon. She grabbed the tiny semi-blunt dagger. Taking a shield as well, she returned to the center of the ring. "Hmph. I would've gone for the hammer." Stoick commented to Gobber about his daughter's choice in weapons.

Taking in a deep breath and exhaling slowly, Hiccup announced to her father and Gobber, "I'm ready."

Slowly, the locks to the Nightmare cage released and all was silent in the ring. Suddenly, the calm was shattered as the Nightmare blasted out of the cage in full flame, making several laps around the ring before crawling onto the ceiling. "SO, WHO'S THE ONE WHO PLANS TO KILL ME!" the Nightmare ferociously yelled out as he searched for his target.

While on the ceiling, he picked up on the scent of sweet sugar and sea breeze. Looking back down, he saw a tiny brunette viking girl in the center of the arena with a shield and dagger. Dropping down to the ground, he growled deeply to the girl to try instill fear into her. "You're who's going to kill me today? I must say I'm a bit disappointed." the Nightmare hissed as he slowly began to approach Hiccup.

Hiccup however was not giving off any fear pheromones, which the Nightmare found strange and somewhat insulting. "You're not afraid of me? A Monstrous Nightmare? You're brave girl I'll say that."

Slowly backing away, Hiccup dropped her shield and dagger to show the large stoker she meant no harm. "What is she doing?" Stoick wondered confusedly.

Raising her hands out to the Nightmare, Hiccup soothingly said to the red scaled dragon "It's okay. It's okay."

It was then that the Nightmare began to realise who the girl was. He had heard his cell mates talk of a human girl in the past few days, about how she always gave them dragon nip or scratched their itch under their jaws. Even the Zippleback who despite being trapped with an eel for several hours admired the girl.

Removing her helmet, Hiccup tossed it aside whilst defyingly saying to both her father and the dragon "I'm not one of them."

Draven couldn't help but smile at Hiccup's rebellious attitude. All they needed for their plan to work was for Hiccup and the Nightmare to bond.

"Stop the fight." Stoick ordered from his seat. Seeing that his own daughter was throwing her weapons down was definitely a sign to him that something was wrong.

"No!" everyone heard Hood yelled out from the tunnel, causing area murmurs and whispers among the crowd. Did Hiccup and Hood's relationship extend deeper than a simple acquaintance?

"I need you all to see this." Hiccup announced to everyone but mainly her father. Slowly, she began to extend her hand out to the stoker's snout. "They're not what we think they are. We don't have to kill them."

Hiccup's hand was a mere centimeter from the dragon. All she had to do was lay her hand on him for them to bond. All she had to do was show everyone how dragons were kind gentle creatures and not the enemies. If only things were that simple with Stoick around.

"I SAID STOP THE FIGHT!" the chief ferociously bellowed out as he took his hammer and slammed it on the side of the steel arena.

The deafening sound of metal reverberating throughout the arena was too much for the red stoker's hearing to handle. As if flicking a switch, his calm demeanor that Hiccup got him into was lost and his eye changed to slits. Loosing his mind, he snapped at Hiccup and began chasing her through the arena "DIE!" he screamed out in anger as he tried to kill Hiccup.

Hiccup let out an ear piercing scream of fear as the Nightmare started chasing her. Loud enough to be heard from the cove. Toothless awoke from his nap to the sound with his ears determining where and what the scream was. "HICCUP! She's in trouble!" Toothless said to himself in realisation. As fast as he could, he clawed his way out of the cove and ran with all his speed to the origin of the scream.

"Now what!?" Andor said to Draven next to him. From the second the Nightmare lunged at Hiccup, Draven had already reacted. Pulling up his right sleeve to reveal his Wraith arm, he replied to Andor "Plan B."

With his Fireworm ability, he slashed at the metal bars of the gate and melted enough of the bars for him to get inside.

Getting inside the arena, he saw Hiccup on the far said of the ring with the Nightmare hot on her heels. Charging his arm, he fired a low-powered plasma pulse that impacted on the Nightmare's face.

"HICCUP, GET OUT OF HERE!" Draven yelled out as he got the Nightmare's attention. Yet it wasn't only the Nightmare's attention he got. The entire village saw him discharge a plasma pulse from his hand which looked exactly like the hand of the Wraith. Not only his hand but they saw a sword sheathe strapped to his left arm. The Wraith's sword.

"Out of my way!" Stoick yelled as he ran through the crowd to get to the gate.

The Nightmare meanwhile was still trying to keep his attention fixated on Hiccup, and even despite his occasional lunge at Draven, he was still chasing Hiccup. Draven meanwhile repeatedly fired pulses rather than bolts in order to stun the stoker not not hurt him.

Andor eventually decided to help as well. Climbing through the hole Draven made, he grabbed a hammer by the weapons wall and hurled it at the stoker, landing a perfect strike on his head.

It was now a three way chase. The Nightmare was now chasing Hiccup and Andor while Draven continually dodged the Nightmare's attacks and sent a few attacks of his own.

Stoick reached the gate where he lifted it open with one simple motion. "This way!" he yelled out to Hiccup and Andor to get to safety. Draven fired another pulse to slow the stoker down. "GO!" he yelled to Hiccup.

Andor reached Stoick first and Hiccup was close behind. Draven continued to fight the Nightmare off and keep its attention on him. However as Hiccup was about to reach her father, a loud crashing sound caused her to turn back to the arena. The Nightmare had swung his tail at Draven and the hybrid was not able to dodge.

He took the tail full force, dislodging his mask and sending him across the ring and slamming against the far wall.

Time seemed to go in slow motion as everyone saw Hood's mask roll along the stone floor, and how he had the right arm and the blade of the Wraith. Was he the Wraith? Was he and the fear-class dragon connected. All wondered but one figured out the truth. The blacksmith's eyes couldn't grow wide enough to show his shock and surprise. Hood was the Wraith, and the Wraith was Draven Mothlyn II. He had been living among them all along.

Without any regards for herself, Hiccup rushed to Draven's side as the stoker was slowly stalking him. Reaching him, Hiccup grabbed Draven by the arm to try help him up, but his stunned form was too limp and heavy to move. "I thought I told you to run!" Draven was able to say in an annoyed tone to Hiccup. "I'm not leaving you. We're a team." she replied.

The stoker began to move towards them ready to strike, until a loud screeching sound could be heard throughout the arena. Only one creature was known to make that specific whistling screech.

Just as the Nightmare raised its head to attack Hiccup and Draven, Toothless reached the arena and blasted out the side with a plasma bolt.

Draven pulled Hiccup into an embrace to cover and protect her from the force of the blast and anything else. Draven also transformed to wrap Hiccup within his wings, but the force of the blast removed his hood before his head had changed.

Everyone watched as the arena was in a shroud of thick smoke with a dark shadowy figure attacking the Nightmare. "Night Fury!" Gobber said in realisation as the smoke began to clear with the black dragon clawing and biting at the stoker's back.

Draven and Hiccup meanwhile were recovering from the force of the blast. Draven looked over his shoulder to see Toothless and the Nightmare battling. "Stay down." he said firmly to Hiccup as he got up and turned to the fight. His dragon instinct to protect her was slowly taking over.

The Nightmare meanwhile was able to flip Toothless off of his back to which he attacked the Night Fury and tried to bite down on his stomach. Toothless clawed and kicked to get the Nightmare away, until Draven burst out of the smoke and tackled the stoker with all of his Wraith strength.

Draven tossed the Nightmare to the other side of the ring, and pulled out his blade as he and Toothless let out blood curdling roars at their rival. "TAKE ONE STEP CLOSER TO HER AND IT WILL BE YOUR LAST STEP YOU'LL EVER TAKE!" Draven and Toothless hissed to the Nightmare. Nobody knew who to root for as they watched the dragons fight each other.

The Nightmare kept trying to get past him, but the Night Fury and hybrid repeatedly blocked him, and after a few more roars and flaring of the wings by Toothless and Draven, the Nightmare coward back to his cage.

With the stoker out of the picture, a new threat became apparent as vikings began to pour into the arena to take on the striker and fear class dragons.

Hiccup ran to Toothless and and tried to push both of them to leave. "Alright guys go. Get out of here!" she pleaded to them. Draven looked over his shoulder to Hiccup and sarcastically replied "Have you not learned by now that dragon stubbornness rivals that of vikings? We aren't going anywhere." And why would they. Hiccup was Toothless' best friend and Draven was in love with her. Their dragon instincts dictated that they protect her no matter what.

Between the Wraith and the Night Fury, the vikings were more interested in the latter. Countless villagers charged at Toothless while about a dozen moved in on Draven.

"Go! GO!" Hiccup pleaded again, but to no affect. Draven lost himself to his instincts and began attacking anyone in his path, Toothless doing the same.

Toothless effortlessly kicked vikings away with either his legs, tail or even his wings "Take it alive!" some vikings yelled out as they began to surround Toothless, wanting to save killing him for later.

At this point, Stoick picked up an axe and attacked as well. "Stoick, no!" Andor pleaded, but Stoick simply shoved him off and charged.

Hiccup saw her father closing in and feared the worst. "Dad, he won't hurt you!" she begged for him to stop.

Toothless saw Stoick as well and saw him as the biggest immediate threat. Kicking and smacking off several more vikings, he was readying to attack Stoick.

"No, don't! You're only making it worse!" Hiccup pleaded again. This wasn't what she had hoped would happen. If her father had only listened to her, the war could have ended five minutes ago. Now it only seemed to be escalating.

Kicking away the remaining men around him, Toothless charged Stoick, intent on stopping him and protecting Hiccup. "Toothless! STOP!" Hiccup cried out as her dragon tackled Stoick and pinned him down.

Hearing the sound of gas building up in Toothless' mouth made a chill go down Hiccup's back. Toothless was preparing to fire a plasma bolt. "No! NOOOOO!" she screamed, finally stopping Toothless.

Toothless heard her and realised what he had done. This was Hiccup's father and he had just attacked him in front of her. Turning his head back towards her, his eyes were dilated with an apologetic expression. "What have I done? Hiccup, I'm sorry." he said.

He was soon tackled by surrounding vikings who quickly pinned him down and helped Stoick up. "No! Please, jus- just don't hurt him! Please don't hurt him." Hiccup pleaded as Toothless was held down with weapons pointed at him.

Yet the fight wasn't over. Draven was still effortlessly fending off his own attackers, parrying and counter parrying their attacks with his sword, wings, and his sheathe on his left arm. Leaving a trail of stunned or slightly injured men in his path, he would not stop. Even with his strength waning in the sunlight, it wasn't going to stop him. He was lost in his instinct to protect Hiccup.

"Stop!" Hiccup shouted, trying to get Draven to stand down. No response.

"STOP!" Toothless yelled. Even he just wanted the fighting to stop, and hoped that Draven hearing dragonese would help. It didn't.

"DRAVEN MOTHLYN, STOP!" Hiccup cried out, bringing the entire arena to a standstill, including Draven.

Did everyone of the Hairy Hooligan tribe hear that correctly? Draven Mothlyn? The boy who was attacked and supposedly killed by the other Wraith five years earlier? Made sense. Why else would this Wraith appear human? Why else would it have that burning hatred against the other Wraith.

Slowly, Draven got out of his combat stance and stood straight, eyeing the vikings around him who would be ready to strike if he so much as flinched. Looking over to Hiccup, she moved her lips to speak but no sound came out. Lip-reading, Draven saw what she was saying; "Get out of here."

Yet it wasn't that simple. If Draven tried to run, he'd be tacked before he could get off the ground and people could get seriously hurt or worse. He'd need a distraction.

As if flicking a switch, his menacing demeanor turned to one of calmness and non threatening. As not to antagonise anyone, he slowly sheathed his sword. It was then that he remembered that his hood game off the second before he changed. The moment his blade was fully sheathed, he reverted back to human form before anyone could step towards him.

At the sight of his face and recognisable white hair, a resounding gasp was heard throughout the arena, and everyone seemed too shocked to react. "Surprised? I know I would be." Draven sarcastically said to his tribe, before releasing the tendril on his right arm and extending it out the roof of the arena.

Grabbing onto the support chain, Draven pulled himself out of the ring, reaching the chain and pushing himself over the arena to the cliff side. Landing, he ran three simple steps and leapt over the edge towards the water before anyone could catch him. Yet there was no splash. Draven had landed in Violet's saddle as he was falling, ascending into the clouds seconds later.

Looking back down to the arena, Draven glared down towards Stoick. If not for his stubbornness, the war could have been over. "DAMN YOU STOICK!" Draven cried out in anger, frustration and defeat, flailing his arms in the air..

Back on the ground, the crowd had turned back to Hiccup and the Night Fury. Stoick halted down to the dragon when he noticed someone offer an axe to him to finish the job. "Put it with the others!" he ordered as he pushed the axe aside and dragged Hiccup off by her arm.

Draven and Violet watched everything from above. Violet was flying towards the opposite side of the island as she didn't know what to do. "Turn us around!" Draven said to her. "I can't leave Hiccup alone against Stoick."

Violet did so. She knew that Toothless would more or less be okay, as no one would kill him without Stoick's say so.

...

Stoick had dragged Hiccup all the way from the arena to the great hall, with his hand clamped down on Hiccup's wrist like a vice. Kicking the doors in to the point that they nearly came off their hinges, he tossed Hiccup inside and began to pace furiously.

"I should have known. I should have seen the signs." he angrily muttered aloud to himself.

Slowly standing up, Hiccup reached her hand out to her father calmly as to apologise. "Dad." she said softly.

"We had a deal!" Stoick shouted to his daughter.

"I know we did... But that was before... Ugh, it's all so messed up." Hiccup apologetically said, running her hands through her hair.

"So everything in the ring. A trick? A lie?" Stoick said accusingly, as if Hiccup were a traitor.

"I screwed up. I should have told you before now. Take this out on me, be mad at me, but please... just don't hurt Toothless or Draven." Hiccup pleaded.

"The dragons? That's what you're worried about? Not the people you almost killed?!" Stoick yelled questioningly.

"They were just protecting me! They're not dangerous." Hiccup said. Even despite the fight they put up earlier, she knew it was only their instinct. She knew they would never intentionally kill someone mercilessly without cause.

"They've killed HUNDREDS OF US!" Stoick yelled, trying to get in his daughters head that she was trusting the enemy.

"AND WE'VE KILLED THOUSANDS OF THEM!" Hiccup shouted. Stoick was surprisingly taken aback. He'd never heard Hiccup yell before let alone yell at him. He simply returned to pacing as his mind raced.

"Emphasis on Thousands. Also with the fact that the war is pointless and could have ended years ago." Hiccup and Stoick heard a voice say from the doors. Turning to the doors, the Haddocks immediately saw Draven standing there in human form with his hood down and no weapon.

Stoick instinctively tried to attack Draven, seeing him as not only a traitor for conspiring with dragons, but for simply being a dragon himself. Stoick tried to punch the hybrid, but Draven vanished in a black shroud, reappearing several meters away. "I thought you would have learned by now that you can't hit me Stoick. It's a loosing battle fighting me just as how it's a loosing battle fighting this war!" Draven pleaded. If Stoick only knew about the Red Death, he'd know well enough to stop attacking Dragon Island and come up with a peaceful solution to stop the fighting.

Hiccup knew this all to well and tried to reason with her father that the dragons were the victims, and not the monsters. "They defend themselves, that's all! They raid us because they have to! If they don't bring enough food back, they'll be eaten themselves. There's something else on their island, Dad... it's a dragon like-"

The word 'island' was what caught Stoick's attention. "-Their island?" he interrupted. Draven was the least of his worries now that he heard Hiccup had found her way to the island. Ignoring Draven, he turned to his daughter.

"So you've been to the nest." he said again, grabbing Hiccup by her shoulders.

"Did I say nest?" Hiccup said to herself more than her father, realising that it may not have been her best choice of words.

"How did you find it?!" Stoick said demandingly, shaking Hiccup slightly.

Before Hiccup could answer, Draven interrupted. "Oh sure. Try and find Dragon Island again Stoick, because we all know how successful that would be whether to get past the fog or not." Draven said sarcastically.

Hiccup just wanted her father to listen to her and to know that he'd never be able to find the island. Something she somewhat took comfort in, knowing he'd never find the Red Death. "Look, dad... I didn't. Toothless did."

"Hiccup!" Draven said warningly as he approached her to get her to stop, but he went unheard.

"Only a dragon can find the island." Hiccup said unintentionally, and only realising so after she had said it.

Seeing Stoick's eyes grow with an idea was what made Hiccup realise her mistake. He would plan to use Toothless to find and destroy the nest on Dragon Island.

"Oh, no, no. Dad, no! Dad. It's not what you think! You don't know what you're up against! It's like nothing you've ever seen!" Hiccup begged, trying her hardest to he her father to stop walking towards the doors.

"Dad. Please. I promise you that you can't win this one!" she pleaded, but her cries fell on deaf ears.

"STOICK, PLEASE! IF YOU DON'T LISTEN TO US, YOU WILL SINGLE HANDEDLY GET THIS ENTIRE VILLAGE KILLED!" Draven yelled as well, following just behind.

"No. Dad, no! FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, WOULD YOU PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO ME?!" Hiccup yelled out, but once again, her father wouldn't listen. His only reply was roughly shoving Hiccup away from him. Hiccup stumbled back from the force and fell to the floor, but Draven caught her before she hit the ground.

"You've thrown your lot in with them." Stoick spat venomously, putting emphasis into 'them' while gesturing to Draven, who he only saw as an abomination.

"You're not a Viking. You're not my daughter." he finally said coldly before stepping out the hall and slamming the doors. "READY THE SHIPS!" he yelled out to his men.

Hiccup and Draven genuinely didn't know what to do. Hiccup felt like a dagger had just gone through her heart at what her father had said. He had disowned her.

The two simply sat there on the cold stone floor while Hiccup just buried her face into Draven's chest and quietly sobbed. Why was it so difficult for her to get her father to simply listen to her, or simply say 'Good job.' over something she actually achieved.

Stoick meanwhile was walking down the steps from the hall. However, just before walking to the docks, Stoick staggered back, realizing the mistake he just made. He had just disowned his own daughter. All she had ever wanted in her life was to get his approval, yet even when she did succeed under her own terms at things SHE wanted, he wouldn't even notice her.

Even Draven. His entire life, he would work himself to the bone to get the appreciation of his tribe, and usually never did. He had to grow up without any parents and since he was born, only ever wanted the killing to stop.

Why was it so impossible for a girl to simply get some deserved admiration and for a boy's please to be heard to stop the violence. And what of what they said, about their being something on Dragon Island that they couldn't beat.

It was too late now, and what Stoick did was in the past now. He simply made his way to the docks. As chief, he had a responsibility to his people to end the war and defeat the dragon menace no matter what.

...

Over the next hour, the docks were abuzz with activity as men and women loaded wagon after wagon of weapons onto ships, readying the entire Berk fleet for the voyage to Dragon Island. Toothless was muzzled and tightly strapped down as he was loaded on Stoick's flagship. "Please! You don't know what you're doing!" Toothless pleaded, trying to talk through body language and moans, but he went unnoticed.

Eventually the entire village was close to empty. Only several dozen people in an island of a thousand remained. Boarding his ship, Stoick gave the order to his lieutenants and captains. "Set sail! We head for Helheim's Gate."

Looking back to Berk, he noticed that not only was Hiccup standing on the cliff side watching them leave, but Draven was standing beside her with his arm around her. The Skrill was also standing beside them, and with all the village warriors down at the docks, no one could deal with them but it was of no concern. With them having the key to reaching Dragon Island, Draven and his Skrill weren't of any concern. Making his way to the nose of his ship, he stepped past Toothless. "Lead us home, Devil." he hissed to the Night Fury.

Hiccup and Draven simply watched over the next hour as the entire fleet disappeared over the horizon to Dragon Island, knowing that they would never return. The two felt defeated. They failed to end the war.

Andor eventually approached Hiccup and Draven on the cliff side. "It's a mess." he said, breaking the silence. "You must feel horrible. You've lost everything. Your father, your tribe, your best friend..." he said to Hiccup.

"Thank you for summing that up." Hiccup dryly stated, rolling her eyes at Andor.

"Why couldn't I have killed that Dragon when I found him in the woods? It would have been better for everyone." Hiccup thought aloud.

"Yep. The rest of us would have done it." Andor answered. "So why didn't you?"

Hiccup was silent as she simply looked down to the ground.

"Why didn't you?" Andor asked again.

At this point, Draven looked down to Hiccup as well. He already knew her answer but he'd want to see her say it again to Andor. Would it be the same?

"I don't know. I couldn't." Hiccup dryly answered.

"That's not an answer." Andor replied.

"Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?" Hiccup snapped, pulling out of Draven's arm.

"Because I want to remember what you say, right now." Andor said. He wanted to know why Hiccup was such a dragon sympathiser as a pose to several days ago when she wanted to kill one.

"Oh, for the love of- I was a coward! I was weak. I wouldn't kill a dragon." Hiccup went on, saying what she could to get Andor to stop. Right now, she just wanted some quiet.

"You said "wouldn't" that time." Andor replied, picking apart her words.

"Whatever! I wouldn't! Three hundred years, and I'm the first Viking who wouldn't kill a dragon!" Hiccup shouted, feeling as though she was once again a complete failure with no place in the village.

"First to ride one, though. I don't think I classify." Draven comfortingly said and joked, gesturing to his arm and temporarily revealing his wings.

Looking back to Andor, Hiccup calmed down and answered, "...I wouldn't kill him because he looked as frightened as I was. I looked at him, and I saw myself."

Hiccup returned to Draven's side and gazed back out over the ocean. After a moment of silence, Andor stepped towards them and asked "I bet he's really frightened now. What are you going to do about it?"

"Eh, probably something stupid." Hiccup plainly stated.

"Good. But you've already done that." Draven commented in an encouraging tone.

"Then something crazy!" Hiccup said enthusiastically as a grin formed on her lips and she ran off in the direction of the arena. She had a plan. Something she was much better at than Draven.

"That's my girl." Draven finished with a smile as he followed close behind with Violet in toe.

...

Well you guys know what chapter comes next. If you guys have any suggestions as to Draven's place in the battle, let me know. I already have an idea but I want to hear you predictions and opinions. See you next Sunday.


	13. Chapter 13: Battle of Dragon Island

"Are you sure about this?" Draven asked Hiccup as they and Violet stood outside the cage to the Monstrous Nightmare. "Well, he's the only one who's trust I need to gain. I know the others already trust me and we'll need all the help we can get." Hiccup replied.

"Oh you don't have to worry about gaining the Nightmare's trust." Draven said to Hiccup. "Toothless and I managed to hammer that into his head in our last encounter. What I mean, is that this one is rather stubborn, he reminds me a bit of Snotlout. Are you sure you want him helping us?"

The Nightmare however could hear them, and peaked out a small hole in his door to see the two teenagers standing in front. "I am sorry about what happened, hybrid. We Nightmares have sensitive hearing and when the large man hit his hammer, it was too much for me." he apologetically reassured Draven who in turn translated to Hiccup. "I did try to stop. I heard from the other three dragons that 'Hiccup' here was a friendly person. I'm sorry." the Nightmare said again.

The riders felt some comfort in this at least, however they still had doubts about their plan. These doubts were completely forgotten when they heard Andor lead the other teens into the arena with them.

"If you're planning on getting eaten, I'd definitely go with the Gronckle." Fishlegs said, eager to join Hiccup and Draven in whatever plan they were cooking up.

After learning that Draven was still alive and was the Wraith mutant all along and seeing how Hiccup had not only managed to tame every dragon in the arena, but also tame a Night Fury and see him loyally defend her with his life, they began to change their outlook on their old flying reptile adversaries. They had completely forgotten about wanting to be dragon slayers. They wanted to be like Hiccup and Draven. They wanted to be dragon riders.

"You were wise to seek help from the world's most deadly weapon. It's me." Ruffnut said in Hiccup's face as she shoved past the other teens, wanting to be like Hiccup's close friend.

Ruffnut was pushed aside as Snotlout stepped forward, rather eager to learn what Hiccup and Draven knew. "I love this plan!" he said enthusiastically, not actually knowing what the plan was.

"I didn't..." Hiccup tried to say. Not only had she not told them the plan yet, but she was receiving positive attention. The same kind of attention she was getting when she was progressing through dragon training. It didn't matter to the teens whether she lied or not. Hiccup had earned their respect.

Snotlout was then abruptly shoved aside as Tuffnut stepped up to Hiccup. "You're crazy! I like that..." he said in a flirting manner.

Andor could see Hiccup was partially uncomfortable with Tuffnut in her face (who wouldn't be). Grabbing him by the collar, Andor pulled him away to give Hiccup some space. "So? What is the plan?" he asked Hiccup.

Hiccup was genuinely shocked. She hadn't expected the teens to go this far out of their way to help her. After all, she was just a hiccup, a runt, yet here she was, commanding respect.

Smiling, she turned to Draven who was standing by the lever to the Nightmare cage. They didn't even need to speak as they looked each other in the eyes. Getting help from lone dragons was good, but getting help from dragon riders would be even better. They had their plan.

"Dragon riding class 101, now in session." Draven stated with a grin and he flipped the lever and opened the cage. "Lesson one: bonding."

Eagerly, the teens watched as the gates opened and the Monstrous Nightmare slowly crept out. The first person the dragon saw was Hiccup, standing right in front of the gate with her palm extended out. Slowly and gently, Hiccup coaxed him out of his cage as she led him to the teens.

Remembering what Draven said about the Nightmare being like Snotlout, Hiccup decided who to pair him with. Sure, pairing a Monstrous Nightmare -one of the most deadliest known breeds of dragons- with Snotlout might not appear to be the most logical idea, but as with Hiccup and Toothless, or Draven and Violet, dragons and humans work best together when they reflect each other's personalities.

Carefully, Hiccup guided the Nightmare towards the teens but primarily to Snotlout. Eager as he was when he first came into the ring, Snotlout began to have second thoughts as the dragon neared him. Reacting on second nature, Snotlout leaned down to grab a spearhead laying on the floor.

Andor noticed this and nudged Snotlout on the shoulder. "Uh-uh." He said warningly. If there was one thing that Andor had first hand experience on, it was not to antagonise a dragon who's trust you were trying to gain. Reluctantly, Snotlout dropped the spearhead and stood frozen stiff as the Nightmare got closer.

Reaching Snotlout, Hiccup grabbed his hand and brought it up to the Nightmare's snout. "Wait! What are you...?!" Snotlout said nervously.

"Relax." Hiccup said with a calm authorative tone. "It's okay... it's okay." she reassured again as Snotlout's hand made contact with the warm red scales of the Nightmare's snout. Upon contact, the Nightmare leaned into Snotlout's hand and gave off a relaxed audible purr.

Snotlout couldn't help by chuckle slightly at the contact. He felt a connection with this Nightmare and the dragon felt it with him. When they looked at each other, they same themselves.

Out the corner of his eye, Snotlout saw Hiccup leave them and run off to the edge of the arena. "Where are you going?!" he wonderingly asked, still a bit nervous to the whole situation.

"You're going to need something to help you hold on." Hiccup said with a devious smirk as she pulled out several pieces of rope.

Hearing several grumbling noise, the teens turned around again and saw the other three dragons lined up with Draven and Violet next to them.

...

The Berk armada had reached the fog around Dragon Island after several hours. Reaching the two large sea stacks that the vikings knew was the only way in, Stoick gave the border to move in. "Sound your positions. Stay within earshot." Stoick advised his men as the moved into the fog, reducing their visibility almost completely to nothing.

Slowly and very cautiously, the fleet maneuvered its way into the fog and through the sea stacks single file. With visibility almost gone and everyone barely able to see ten meters of the sides of their ships, Vikings repeatedly called out to each other as not to have ships getting separated.

With the eery silence in the fog with a faint humming sound in the distance, Gobber couldn't help by grow rather anxious. Nerves aside, Gobber was also slowly developing doubts about the whole war and about attacking the dragon's nest directly. Sure, he'd gladly follow Stoick into the jaws of death, but after learning of Draven's triple life as well as Hiccup training dragons rather than training to fight dragons, his out looks began to change.

Back to his growing nervousness, Gobber approached Stoick who was at the head of the ship. "Listen... Stoick... I was overhearing some of the men just now and, well, some of them are wondering what it is we're up to here- not me of course, I know you're always the man with the plan- but some, not me, are wondering if there is in fact a plan at all, what it might be?" the blacksmith said anxiously.

"Find the nest and take it." Stoick said bitterly. All he cared about was destroying the dragon menace once and for all.

"Ah. Of course. Send them running. The old Viking fallback. Nice and simple." Gobber sarcastically commented to the vagueness of the plan.

Turning back to the ship while Gobber was talking, he looked over to Toothless who held his head low, but his ears began to twitch.

"Shhh." the chief said to quieten his men as he observed the Night Fury. It didn't take long for Stoick to realise what Toothless was reacting to.

"Step aside." Stoick said as he made his way to the helm of the ship and took the rudder control.

Suddenly, Toothless' head shot up and turned his head to the left, as if listening or looking for something. Following the dragon, Stoick turned the ship left and continued through the sea stacks. "Bear to port." one viking said to the ship behind them to follow.

Try as he might, Toothless couldn't shut out the call of the hive as he continually kept his head in the direction of his people and dark ruler. Stoick continued to follow Toothless as his head glanced from left to right, as the fleet made its way deeper into the fog.

The whispering and the humming began to grow louder as they approached the volcano, and eventually came upon a viking ship thing from its sails on a sea stack. "Ah. I was wondering where that went." Gobber commented.

In seconds, the fog began to break and Stoick saw what looked like a dark beach and a mountain side. "Stay low and ready your weapons." he ordered to his men as the approached the island.

Soon, Stoick's ship hit the beach and came to a halt. The humming was near to deafening as the fleet came out of the sea stacks and lined up on the beach.

Stoick was the first to disembark, but as his boots hit the dark gravel of the beach, the humming ceased. Looking up at the mountain, the chief and everyone else saw several small dragons and the tail of a Nightmare scuttle into the vast cave network to hide.

"We're here."

Over the next twenty minutes, the army of vikings unloaded their weapons and catapults as well as set up spear wall defences of their own.

Stoick was with Gobber and Spitelout as they prepared a plan of attack. "When we crack this mountain open, all hell is going to break loose." Stoick said as he sketched the plan into the sand.

"In my undies. Good thing I brought extras." Gobber jokingly added to try alleviate the tension.

"No matter how this ends, it ends today." Stoick finished as he raised his hand and gave the order. With the clench of his fist, all the catapults fired on the mounted. The volley of boulders slowly cracked the side of the mountain, until the final boulder hit and shattered the mountain said into one of the volcano's tunnels.

"Oh no. What have you done!" Toothless said as he watched from the ship.

All Vikings let out battle cries as the approached the mountain, with Stoick at the lead. Cautiously, he made his way to the entrance of the volcano, only to see a void of darkness ahead of him.

Gesturing with his hammer, the main catapult fired an incendiary boulder into the cave, illuminating the darkness and revealing an uncountable swarm of Nadders, Gronckles, Zipplebacks and Nightmares.

Bellowing out a war cry that would make most people quake, Stoick charged in to kill any dragon in his path.

The dragons began to swarm and made a beeline for any exit out of the mountain they could find. Stoick swung his hammer wildly to bring any dragon down but hit not but air as he missed time and time again. It was the same story outside as vikings tried to bring down the fleeing dragons but hit nothing in the process.

Toothless just watched his hive vacate the island. "Get out of here guys. These fools have only doomed us and themselves." he said as he felt his hope plummet. Any hopes of getting the vikings to stop was hopeless and now they only would have antagonised **him**.

In seconds, Dragon Island was almost completely empty as the dragons flew away from an imminent threat, and it wasn't the vikings they were afraid of.

"Is that it?" Gobber said confusedly with a shrug.

For a few moments, the entire beach was silent. The calm before the storm. "We've done it!" Spitelout cheered out, causing the rest of the army to join him. Seeing the swarm of dragons tremble and vacate the island at the mere sight of the viking army was more than satisfactory for the vikings. If only that was why the swarm left.

Stoick however knew something was wrong. The dragons wouldn't give up that easily. Looking to the ships, he could see Toothless fearfully trying to get out of his restraints, still pleading with the vikings in his own language. Then it struck him, and Stoick had remembered what Hiccup and Draven had said only hours earlier.

...

"They defend themselves, that's all! They raid us because they have to! If they don't bring enough food back, they'll be eaten themselves. There's something else on their island, Dad... it's a dragon like-"

"Oh, no, no. Dad, no! Dad. It's not what you think! You don't know what you're up against! It's like nothing you've ever seen! Dad. Please. I promise you that you can't win this one!"

"STOICK, PLEASE! IF YOU DON'T LISTEN TO US, YOU WILL SINGLE HANDEDLY GET THIS ENTIRE VILLAGE KILLED!"

...

It wasn't the viking army the dragons were fleeing from, but something worse. "This isn't over. Form your ranks! Hold together!" Stoick yelled out worryingly.

Not a moment later, the entire island quaked as the inside of the cave began to tremble and collapse, with a spine chilling roar emanate from within the volcano.

The cracks from the cave spread out over the side of the mountain as Stoick could see something coming out of the tunnel towards the beach. "Get clear!" he yelled as everyone pulled away from the collapsing mountain.

Not long after, everyone saw a colossal grey and red armoured head emerge from the mountain. "Beard of Thor... what is that?" Gobber stated in shock, unable to take his eyes off of the monster unsheathing itself from the mountain.

With another roar and push, the colossal dragon burst out from the mountain side as it stepped onto the beach. "Odin, help us." Stoick simply said in fear. Hiccup and Draven were right. They couldn't fight this thing.

"Vikings!? You dare come into my domain!? You insects will all burn!" the beast roared out in anger.

Regaining composure, Stoick ordered another attack. "Catapults!" he yelled out. Maybe they could do some damage and bring this monster down.

All the catapults fired simultaneously but only succeeded in not only doing absolutely nothing, but in angering the Red Death further. With one bite and two simple swipes of his massive claws, all the catapults were turned into a pile of meaningless wood.

"Get to the ships!" some vikings cried out. They could see is was a loosing battle and it was pointless staying.

Stoick however saw that the dragon had turned its attention the the fleet and by the look in its eyes, it didn't contend to have any vikings leave the island.

"No! NO!" Stoick cried out to get his men to stop.

"You're not planning on leaving so soon are you?" the Red Death evilly said as he aimed at the fleet. With one breath, the Red Death fired an endless stream of flaming napalm at the Berk fleet, burning the entire fleet to splinters in seconds.

"Heh. Smart, that one." Gobber said to Stoick as the dragons finished off the fleet. "I was a fool." Stoick said to himself. Had he only listened to his daughter, he would have doomed everyone like this.

He couldn't let his people die like this, he had to try and protect them. "Lead the men to the far side of the island." he ordered to his cousin, Spitelout.

"Right." Spitelout acknowledged. "Everybody to the far side of the island!"

"Gobber, go with the men." Stoick ordered his friend.

"I think I'll stay, just in case you're thinking of doing something crazy." Gobber replied. He definitely wouldn't leave his best friend to fight that colossal dragon on his own.

"I can buy them a few minutes if I give that thing someone to hunt." Stoick said. He knew that he wouldn't survive and would at least give his last breath in the service of his people.

Gobber grabbed Stoick by the arm before he ran off. "Then I can double that time." Gobber said encouragingly.

With a smile, Stoick turned back to the monster of Dragon Island and charged. "HERE!"

Gobber followed just behind with a slight laugh. If he were to die, it would be fighting alongside his chief and friend. "NO, HERE!"

Stoick grabbed one of the spears in the dirt and threw it at the Red Death's head, grazing his eye. Turning to the source, he heard two vikings shouting at him from bellow. Red Death saw a fairly large red haired man and man with missing limbs busy trying to challenge him.

"Come on! Bite me!" Gobber shouted.

"No, me!" Stoick added, Red Death's head trailing back and forth between the two men.

"Or I can just burn and eat all of you." Red Death darkly growled out as he reared his head back to fire again.

However just before he could secrete the napalm gas in his throat, five powerful explosions detonated on his back and forced him down. What Stoick, Gobber and everyone else saw next was not something they we're expecting to see.

...

Draven and Hiccup were atop Violet with the rest of the teens following on their own dragons which they had already named. Surprisingly, despite fighting all the dragons only days earlier, the aerial reptiles had bonded with the teens rather well.

The group was approaching dragon island and had noticed that the skies were empty, as if Dragon Island wasn't even inhabited by any dragons. "I've got a bad feeling about this." Fishlegs commented atop his Gronckle, Meatlug.

The group was silent as they stayed just above the fog bank over the sea stacks. As they were flying, Hiccup heard a soft chuckle come from Draven in front of her. "What's so funny?" she asked her companion.

"Was just thinking how you and I were the 'runts' of the village when we were younger." Draven answered. "Tell me, could a runt achieve the things we have achieved? Could a runt train and fly dragons? Could a runt have done all the things we have done for the village?"

Tightening her arms around Draven's chest, Hiccup leaned into his back and replied "Guess you can't always judge by appearances, huh."

Placing his own dragon hand over Hiccup's hands, Draven looked over his shoulder to Hiccup and softly said to her "We're gonna get Toothless back Hiccup, and we are going to end the war today. We can do this, together."

The group continued to get closer to the island, until countless swarms of dragons burst out of the fog bank and were trying to get away from the island as fast as they could. "Evasive maneuvers!" Draven shouted.

After some quick dodging from left to right, the dragon riders had evaded the swarm and heard a blood curdling roar emanate from the mountain. "Uh, what was that?" Snotlout nervously asked. "What I was afraid of." Draven plainly replied. "Looks like they found 'him'."

Approaching the island, the riders kept a high altitude as they witnessed a inconceivably large dragon burst out from the island and attack the viking expedition force. "Whoa! Check the damage that thing can do!" Tuffnut said in a strangely amazed tone. "Yeah, can we have one?" Ruffnut added.

Seeing the Red Death set the fleet ablaze, Draven and Hiccup had to think quick. "Okay guys, things just got complicated." Hiccup said to the riders. "New plan. Get the Red Death away from our people, find Toothless, and take that thing down." the hybrid said.

The riders then saw how Stoick and Gobber were attacking the Red Death while the viking army retreated. "This is it guys. Let's do this." Hiccup said as they dived in towards the tyrant of Dragon Island with the other riders following in.

"FIRE!" Draven yelled as he charged and released a plasma bolt from his right arm. Stormfly, Hookfang, Meatlug and Barf and Belch fired as well down to the Red Death. The five blasts of flame raced down to the ground and hammered down on Red Death's back, neck and head.

Swooping down, the riders passed the Red Death and flew over Stoick, Gobber and rest of the vikings.

"Ruff, Tuff, watch your backs!" Hiccup said to the twins who flew closer to Red Death than the others. "Move, Fishlegs!" she said to the slowest of the group.

"LOOK AT US! WE'RE ON A DRAGON! WE'RE ON DRAGONS! ALL OF US!" Tuffnut yelled down to the army as they passed over. Everyone couldn't help but stare up to the sky in mixed shock, confusion and awe.

"Every bit the boar-headed, stubborn Viking you ever were!" Gobber said to Stoick with a nudge over his shoulder. Stoick simply nodded as he stared up to his daughter and the teens riding dragons.

"Up, let's move it!" Draven shouted back. The group ascended and began circling Red Death to plan their next moves.

"Fishlegs, break it down!" Hiccup said to their Gronckle rider.

Despite being the most nervous of the group, he put his knowledge of dragons to use and analysed the gargantuan dragon. "Okay! Heavily armored skull and tail made for bashing and crushing! Steer clear of both! Small eyes, large nostrils! Relies on hearing and smell!"

Only needing a second, Hiccup put together her plan. "Okay! Lout, Legs, hang in its blind spot! Make some noise, keep it confused! Andor, attack that thing wherever you can, slow it down! Ruff, Tuff, find out if it has a shot limit! Make it mad!"

"That's my specialty!" the female twin commented confidently.

"Since when? Everyone knows I'm more irritating! See?" Tuffnut yelled to his sister, inverting Belch's head and pulled faces to Ruffnut.

"Just do what she told you!" Draven shouted to the procrastinators. "I'll be back as soon as I can!" Hiccup said to them as they flew towards the burning fleet to search for Toothless.

"Don't worry, we got it covered!" Snotlout reassured as they descended towards Red Death. "Yeah!" Fishlegs added. Despite his nerves, he had confidence in their plan. He enjoyed the idea of working alongside dragons.

Reaching the beast first, Tuffnut and Ruffnut flew past Red Death's and as instructed, started mocking him.

"Troll!"

"Butt-Elf!"

"Bride of Grendel!"

"Shut up, insects!" Red Death bellowed in annoyance as he fired two fireballs at the twins and their Zippleback.

The twin headed dragon was able to evade and pulled back from the fight.

Sneaking up to his head, Snotlout and Fishlegs moved to Red Death's eyes and began banging on their shields. "Uh, this thing doesn't have a blind spot!" Fishlegs commented as he saw that Red Death had six eye and could see everything around him.

Meanwhile, Violet and the veteran riders were passing over the fleet, scanning for their Night Fury comrade.

"There!" Hiccup said to Draven. Partying him on the shoulder, she pointed down to Stoick's ship which was slowly sinking while it was ablaze.

Diving down into the smoke, Violet quickly reached the lead ship with Toothless. "Toothless! Are you alright!?" Violet yelled down in concern.

"I'm fine! You didn't have to come here to Red Death's island, I don't want to see you get hurt." Toothless shouted back worryingly as Violet hovered downwards to let Hiccup disembark.

"We're not leaving you!" Violet said back as Hiccup jumped off to her striker.

Turning back up to Draven and Violet, Hiccup could see the small amount of worry in Draven's eyes. "Go help the others!" Hiccup said to him with confidence and a small level of authority in her voice. She had to prove to Draven that she was a capable person as oppose to the one she was several days earlier, and that she could take care of herself.

Nodding, Draven pulled back on Violet's saddle to ascend back to the heavens but not before gazing into Hiccup's eyes once again. "Be careful." he said before turning back to Red Death.

Turning back to Toothless, Hiccup pulled off his muzzle and began working to open up the locks. "Okay, hold on. Hold on." she said comfortingly to her dragon as she got to work.

Meanwhile back at the battle, while Andor and Draven repeatedly attacked Red Death with strafing runs, Fishlegs and Snotlout's disorientation tactic on the tyrant was taking effect.

"It's working!" Snotlout cheered.

"Yeah! It's working!" Fishlegs said as well, see Red Death's eyes aimlessly turn in their sockets.

Their method was working, a little too well.

Hookfang and Meatlug were getting disorientated as well and could barely stay in the air. Hookfang was the first to react and tossed his rider away to get away from the sound. Snotlout was tossed right onto the head of Red Death.

Meatlug lost all focus second, and was unable to stay airborne anymore. Loosing balance, she began to plummet from the air.

"I've lost power on the Gronckle. SNOTLOUT! DO SOMETHING!" Fishlegs crowd out in panic as he threw his hammer to Snotlout as he and his dragon dropped like a rock.

Hitting the ground, Meatlug dragged along the gravel beach with her rider until she came to a halt. "I'm okay!" Fishlegs yelled out, relieved.

Meatlug's momentum however hadn't ceased as he tail came over, causing her to come down onto her rider. "Less okay..." Fishlegs groaned in pain from being crushed.

Seeing the downed Gronckle with her human, Red Death raised his gargantuan right foot to flatten the two. Snotlout however wants going to let at happen, and took action with the hammer Fishlegs handed him.

"I can't miss! What's wrong buddy, got something in your eye?" Snotlout taunted as he repeatedly slammed the hammer into Red Death's right eyes. The colossal dragon roared in irritation and pain, causing his hand to just miss Fishlegs and Meatlug.

Andor was passing over at the same time and saw Snotlout. "Yeah! You're the Viking!" he cheered as he and Stormfly flew past.

Snotlout felt a sense of accomplishment after hearing Andor -the cool viking- cheer him on. Red Death however twitched his head sideways, with the resulting force flipping Snotlout to the other side of his out, Snotlout grabbed one of the protrusions on Red Death's head to stop his fall. "Whoa!" Snotlout gasped when he looked down to see exactly how high the tyrant dragon was.

Growing highly impatient with all his surrounding foes, Red Death let out a blood curdling roar and spun around, snapping his jaws and swinging his tail. So much so that his tail hit the mast of Stoick's ship.

The burning mast crashed just in front of Toothless, separating Hiccup from her dragon. If things weren't enough, Red Death stomped Hus rear foot right on Stoick's ship, sending Hiccup and Toothless into the water.

Draven helplessly watched every second of it. "NO!" he furiously cried out as he fired another plasma bolt at Red Death and flew to the edge of the beach.

Meanwhile underwater, Toothless had sunk straight to the bottom of the water with the weight of his restrains and still couldn't move. Hiccup followed Toothless to the bottom and still, she tried with all her strength to get Toothless out of the restrains. "Hiccup don't, you'll drown! Get out of here!" Toothless pleaded to his rider and best friend.

Hiccup however wasn't going to give up. She remained underwater, trying to get the restrains open, until the inevitable happened. Hiccup ran out of breath and she began to pass out underwater. Toothless feared he would watch his best friend die right here in front of him while trying to save him. Fortunately, Hiccup was yanked back abruptly and was pulled to the surface.

Breaching the water, Hiccup thought that Draven may have dived in after her, only it wasn't Draven. The arm she could feel around her body was much to big to be Draven's arm. Once she was placed on the rock beach, Hiccup coughed up the remaining water on her lungs and looked back up to see the last person she expected dive back into the water. "Dad?" she said to her self with shock and surprise while Draven and Violet landed just behind her.

Reaching the bottom of the water, Stoick saw Toothless calmly sitting in his restrains, as if waiting for his inevitable drowning. Not on Stoick's watch. He was not going to let his beloved daughter and only child loose her friend.

With brute force, Stoick ripped the main restraint apart with his bare hands, releasing Toothless. The Night Fury was genuinely surprised to say the least, and returned the favor. Grabbing Stoick by his shoulder, Toothless gave one single powerful thrust of his wings, sending the both of the out of the water and back onto dry land.

Letting go of Stoick by the waters edge and landing, Toothless shook himself off and looked back to Hiccup. "Let's do this. Red Death is going down." Toothless said encouragingly with a gesture of his head.

Even though she couldn't speak or understand dragonese, Hiccup heard every word he said. "You got it, bud." she enthusiastically said with a smile.

Quickly mounting her dragon, Hiccup hooked on her riding belt and glanced out the side of her eyes to see Draven ready to take off too. However just before she could touch the rails of her saddle, she felt a large hand on her left arm. It was her father. "Hiccup. I'm sorry... for- for everything." Stoick said sincerely. All his life he had never paid any attention to his daughter. All his life he expected her to live up to his legacy, not taking into account that she might have her own. He'd be damned if he'd loose whatever bond he had left with his daughter.

"Yeah, me too." Hiccup returned.

"You don't have to go up there." Stoick pleaded. Despite Hiccup showing how she could take initiative, he'd still hate to see her hurt or worse.

"We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard." Hiccup joked with a smile.

Taking Hiccup's hand softly, Stoick sincerely said to her "I'm proud to call you my daughter."

That was it. That was all Hiccup had over wanted to hear from her father. "Thanks, Dad."

Turning back to Draven, she could see that he, Violet and Toothless were eager to take off. "Let's show everyone what we 'runts' can do." she said encouragingly with a grin. With that, Toothless and Violet shot off the ground to the skies like a pair of missiles.

"She's up!" Andor yelled to the other riders.

Pulling alongside the twins on their Zippleback, Andor noticed Snotlout's predicament.

"Get Snotlout out of there!" he ordered the twins.

"I'm on it! I'm on it!" the twins said in unison, but doing something they both agreed on that didn't involve explosions was not their forte.

"I'm on it first! I'm ahead of you." Tuffnut said to his sister.

"Hey! Let me drive!" Ruffnut yelled back, judging her brother.

Despite their bickering, they managed to he their dragon to pass right over Red Death's head. Seeing the twins come in, Snotlout ran to the edge of Red Death's head and leapt into the air, catching the Zippleback right between his heads. "I can't believe that worked!" Snotlout cheered.

With everyone out the way, Stormfly and Barf and Belch pulled away from the colossal dragon, but Red Death would let the go that easily. Seeing Andor first with Stormfly, he opened his massive jaws and slowly began to breath in, the force being to string for Stormfly to escape.

"Andor's in trouble!" Draven said to Hiccup as they gazed down from their altitude. "We'll handle it!" Hiccup replied.

Soon after, everyone on the beach began to hear that very distinguishable high pitched whistle resonate through the air.

"Night Fury! Get down!" Gobber cried out to everyone as they spotted Toothless closing in.

With one shot, Toothless fired right into Red Death's jaw and forcing him to pull back. However the blast was too strong for Stormfly and Andor to handle. Andor was dismounted and plummeted to the ground.

Luckily, speed was the Night Furies forte. Ins seconds, Toothless doubled back and caught Andor before he could hit the ground.

"Did you get him?" Hiccup worryingly asked Toothless. Looking back to his paws, Toothless saw Andor relieved that he was still alive and obviously grateful for the save. Giving his gummy grin, he dropped Andor off by the viking crowd and ascended back into the clouds to join Violet and Draven.

Back at altitude, Hiccup looked down to Red Death and noticed something. "Draven. That thing has wings!" she noted. Maybe they could use his size against him.

"Ha, let's see how well he uses them!" Draven mocked as he began charging another plasma bolt in his arm. Joining together, Hiccup and Draven, Toothless and Violet went into a high speed dive headed straight for the tyrant of Dragon Island. Firing in perfect unison, two plasma bolts made their marks and slammed Red Death into the ground and even dragging some distance along the ground on his side.

When the smoke began to clear, all vikings watched as Red Death slowly began to extend his massive wings. "That's it! Now you die!" he said in ferocious anger as he took then the air.

"Do you think that did it?" Hiccup wondered out loud.

Seeing the Red Death beating his wings and right on their tails was more than evident enough.

"Well, we got his attention. What the hell was step two?" Draven anxiously said as Violet and Toothless accelerated to get away from Red Death.

Trying to find any way they could to slow down or better yet bring down Red Death, Draven and Hiccup began maneuvering through the foggy sea stacks, passing the viking horde at the same time. The sea stacks made little difference to Red Death however, and followed in after his enemies. Smashing the stacks effortlessly, Red Death continued to try catch the two striker dragons.

Seeing their options running out, Draven knew the best one they had left would be the striker dragons stealth. "Hiccup! Let's take this guy where he doesn't want to go!" Draven said as he pointed to the dark dense ash cloud above.

Nodding, both angled themselves to the heavens. "Okay, Toothless, time to disappear." she encouragingly said to her Night Fury as she adjusted his tail and ascended.

Red Death was too drunk with his anger to realise where the humans and their strikers were leading him. He just aimlessly followed.

It want until they were close to the cloud that he realised he loose them in there. Building up methane gas in his throat, he planned to burn them before they got the chance.

Hearing it, Hiccup and Draven quickly readied themselves to dodge. "Here it comes!" Hiccup yelled as Red Death fired at them, but missed.

In one last attempt, Red Death beat his wings as hard as he could to close the gap between him and his foes to swallow them whole, but to no avail as the two strikers disappeared into the shadows of the cloud.

Anxiously, the vikings on the beach watched as all three dragons disappeared, waiting to see what would happen.

Hovering within the cloud, Red Death could barely see in front of him let alone see his foes. Suddenly, a faint blue glow caught his attention deep in the cloud. He prepared to fire another fire ball, but a plasma shot to one of his wings quickly put a stop to that.

Turning around to try and spot his former Night Fury soldier, he saw not but ash cloud. Then again, another blue glow appeared in the cloud cover, distracting him just long enough for another plasma bolt to fire at him from above and rip through his wing. Crying out in pain, Red Death tried to turn and spot the Night Fury but again, nothing.

Repeatedly, Draven and Hiccup with their dragons did this. With only one shot remaining, Draven was using his glowing arm as a distraction to allow Toothless to close in and damage Red Death's wings.

Back on the beach, vikings watched as the dark clouds were repeatedly illuminated by explosion after explosion, painting a large and dark silhouette of Red Death.

"ENOUGH!" Red Death cried out as he fired his napalm burn in ever direction to try smoke out his enemies who he couldn't find.

"Watch out!" Hiccup shouted as the flames grazed she and Toothless. She and Toothless were fine, buy the flame did hit Toothless' synthetic tail

"Okay, time's up!" Hiccup said nervously. Draven was flying close by in the cloud cover and saw it as well. With Toothless' tail burning at the rate it was, he knew it would only be seconds. "Let's see if this works." Hiccup said to herself as she and Toothless turned back to Red Death and dived towards him, being joined by Draven on the way.

"COME ON! IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?!" Hiccup and Toothless taunted as she and Draven flew right past Red Death's head. The tyrant tried to snap at them, but Draven fired his last shot at Red Death's jaw, shoving it aside and allowing he and Hiccup to break past.

Into the dive, Draven and Violet were just ahead of Toothless and Hiccup with the Red Death her on their heels. "Stay with me, buddy. We're good. Just a little bit longer." Hiccup reassuringly said to her dragon as she tried to maintain control of the tail, which was slowly becoming more and more unresponsive by the second.

Time almost seemed to stop for the group as the drew closer to the ground, inch by inch. Hiccup tuned out all sound as she anticipated one specific she knew would come from behind her. Looking ahead, she'd see Draven occasionally turn his head back to Red Death, as if her were waiting for that sound again.

Eventually, the group began to hear the loud hissing sound of a gas build up, and Red Death was preparing to fire again. "Die!" Red Death darkly growled as he readied to fire, not realising that he was simply falling into a trap

"Hold, Toothless." Hiccup said to her dragon calmly as she shut her eyes and focused on her hearing, waiting for the hissing to reach its apex. Looking back up, Draven saw Red Death was about to light his gas. "NOW, FINISH HIM!" Draven shouted.

"NOW!"

With that, Toothless rolled over and fired a plasma shot of his own right down Red Death's throat. "Your reign end today, monster!" Toothless spat as the gas ignited.

By the time all dragons broke the cloud cover and could see the ground fast approaching, it was too late for Red Death. The burning napalm in his throat was incinerating his entire body from the inside out.

He tried to flare his wings out to come to a stop but it was futile. Toothless had fired too many shots into his wings and they were utterly shredded. There simply was no conceivable way he could stop an inevitable doom.

"Pull up!" Draven advised. Unfortunately, where he and Hiccup were on the same page for every second of the battle, they didn't have the same idea for escape. Violet only partially opened her wings and angled herself downwards in order to pull up in a swooping dive. Toothless simply opened his wings fully like a parachute and let Red Death stream past him.

Then it happened. Red Death cratered into the ground face first, exploding and an inconceivably large fireball and stunning the viking army with a powerful shockwave.

Draven meanwhile tried to take the chance to look back to see Red Death burn. He saw so, but also saw that Hiccup wasn't behind him, but she and Toothless were trying to weave in and out of Red Death spines to escape the flames. "No!" Draven whispered in horror to himself. He knew what would happen. With Toothless' tail evaporating, he knew this could only end badly.

Transforming into his Wraith form, Draven shot off of Violet's saddle like a bullet and beat his wings as hard as he could to reach Hiccup. He had lost far too much in his life. He lost his parents, his old life and almost all of his humanity. He sure as HELL would not loose the one remaining person in the world that he cared about. That he loved.

Hiccup and Toothless however were almost at the end of Red Death's body. They were almost home free, until the horrifying sound of a snap ended all their hopes. Lookin back, Hiccup watched in terror as Toothless' synthetic tail dissolved into nothingness. Looking back up, the only thing she and Toothless could see was Red Death's mace-like tail in their path, and with Toothless' tail gone, there was no way he could evade.

"No. NO!" Hiccup said to herself in fear, then it happened. She and Toothless made contact with the tail. Hiccup was knocked unconscious as was thrown from her saddle.

When Toothless felt his back become weightless, he feared the worst, and his fears were confirmed when he look down towards the flames. "HICCUP! NO!" Toothless cried as he turned back to the flame and tried to catch Hiccup.

Yet again, the world seemed to go in slow flapped his wings as hard as he could, but it almost seemed as though there would be no way to catch his best friend and rider. Was this it for the duo? Would the lonely girl who only wanted some recognition die here and now? Would Toothless loose the only friend he had aside from Violet? Would this be the day when their lives were destroyed?

However at the final second as Toothless tried to reach out for Hiccup as the flames were about to engulf her, a human shaped winged figure emerged out of the flames and had encased itself around Hiccup.

Not wasting a second more, Toothless wrapped his own arms and wings around a cocooned Hiccup, getting engulfed within the flames a moment later.

...

Dragon Island was as quiet as a graveyard. Not only the viking horde, but the entire dragon swarm had just witnessed the death of the monster that had terrorised Dragon Island for decades.

"Ugh, did you get her?" Toothless groaned out to Draven.

"Yeah." Draven replied relieved. "She still alive."

The group was quiet until they began to hear a noise echo through the smoke

"Hiccup? Hiccup!" he called out repeatedly with concern. Stoick was the first to venture into the smoking crater in search of his daughter.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say he sound concerned for his daughter." Toothless pondered allowed.

"You don't say." Draven quietly replied. "But does he actually mean it? Play along."

"Hiccup!" he called out again, until he saw a large shadowy figure lying at the center of the crater.

"Hiccup." Stoick said to himself. Fearing the worst, the chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe rushed as fast as he could to what he knew was his daughter's Night Fury.

Reaching Toothless, Stoick saw the dark striker curled up with his saddle and synthetic tail system completely burned to a cinder.

"Oh, Hiccup... I did this..." Stoick said in a shaky voice, and why wouldn't he. He had just lost his daughter whom he loved but never really showed it. All she ever wanted was to be loved. All she ever wanted was to be acknowledged as a somebody, not trash. All she ever wanted was simply for someone to say 'Good job.'

"I'm so sorry..." Stoick said again, a few tears escaping his eyes.

That was all Draven needed to hear. "Well...it took you long enough." the hybrid said sarcastically from within Toothless' wings, bring Stoick back to reality.

Slowly as not to hurt his rider anymore, Toothless opened his wings to reveal Draven I side cocooning himself. Rolling over, Draven opened his own arms and wings, revealing Hiccup within.

"Hiccup!" Stoick said in surprise and relief. Pulling his daughter away from Toothless and Draven, he removed his helmet and placed his ear over Hiccup's chest.

Hearing her heart still beating and her lungs still breathing was all the reassurance and comfort he needed. "She's alive! You brought her back alive!" Stoick cheered. All the viking men and women behind him as well as all the dragons of Dragon Island cried and roared out in together in relief. Who of them would have thought that their salvations would have been delivered by the hands of an outcast and a runt.

Placing his other hand over Toothless' head, Stoick looked both the dragon and the hybrid in their eyes. "Thank you, both of you... for saving my daughter." he said sincerely to them.

Rolling backwards to get off of Toothless' wing, Draven gazed to Hiccup's sleeping form and turned back to human form. Placing his right hand over Hiccup's head Draven simply said softly to Stoick "Well, why wouldn't we. Without her, we'd still be lost in darkness."


	14. Chapter 14: A new day

Well readers, this is it. The final chapter. I must say I've enjoyed writing this story for you guys and I never thought I'd make it this far. Thank you for not only encouraging me to push on but also putting up with my occasional spelling and grammar mistake. Note that speed typing on a tablet is never a good idea.

Also, I decided to give Hiccup a different injury. By having Draven save Hiccup as well as Toothless in the last chapter, it only makes sense that less fire would have reached her. I also did this as I didn't see limb loss as a crucial thing required to show the friendship between Hiccup and Toothless (I'm not the first person to do this, just so you guys know. Some people didn't even injure Hiccup at all in their stories (male or female)). At the end of the day, this is MY non-profit story and I've written it MY way.

I'm possibly considering a sequel to expand into HTTYD2 but I'm still deciding on that, my ideas are still in concept phase. If you guys have any ideas, don't hesitate to tell me. Though I will be taking a break from all this writing, so don't expect an update any time soon. So without further delay, I give you the final chapter to The viking girl and the hybrid.

...

Hiccup was sound asleep in her bed. She had been out for over a day now and her mind had felt so at peace. Her chest rose and fell with every breath as she lay there in the quiet, dreaming of flying with Toothless and Draven. Slowly, she began to stir from her sleep with the feeling of a gentle breeze on her cheek. Opening her eyes, she came to see Toothless looming over her protectively while also playfully and gently nudging her with his snout.

"Oh, hey, Toothless." she friendly greeted at seeing his large eyes.

Seeing Hiccup awake was more than joyous for Toothless. Leaning closer, Toothless continued to playfully nudge his rider. It was also to get her to move so he could at least see if she was okay moving on her own "I'm happy to see you too, buddy." Hiccup said again, rather surprised to see Toothless behave like this, until he accidentally stepped on her gut.

"OW! What-" Hiccup groaned, until she saw where she was. "I'm in my house. You're in my house." she said in surprise and shock. "Uh... does my dad know you're in here?!" she asked her Night Fury, even though he couldn't answer her.

Toothless however was overjoyed to see his rider awake and speaking. For him, he was glad he hadn't lost his best friend, and celebrated by leaping from rafter to rafter of the Haddock house.

"Okay, okay- no, Toothless! Aw, come on..." Hiccup said, reaching her arms out to Toothless to try get him to stop, but stopped herself when she looked to her hands. Her left hand was bandaged up to her elbow. Remembering the battle against the Red Death, she recalled getting hit by the dragon's tail and falling into heat as she passed out.

Pulling her blanket back, she saw part of her right leg was bandaged as well. Examining her body, she found a third bandage around her neck. Slowly and somewhat fearfully, she carefully unravelled the cloth on her arm, soon revealing scarred burns spanning her whole left hand up to her elbow. Undoing the remaining bandages, her right calve was scarred as was the entire left side of her neck.

Moving so she sat on the side of the bed, she ran her hands over the burns to feel how they had changed, yet surprisingly, she still had full feeling and functionality in her hand and leg. She had always heard of burn victims getting nerve damage from the burns, yet her hand, neck and leg still felt normal.

Hitching her breath slightly, a few tears managed to escape her eyes. Seeing this, Toothless came down to her side and Nuzzled the side of her face to see if she was okay.

"It's okay bud. I'm just glad we made it out of there alive. I'm okay." Hiccup said cheerfully with a smile as she wrapped her arms around Toothless' neck.

Pulling back, Hiccup tried to stand up but suddenly felt heavily fatigued and collapsed. Toothless however stepped forwards and caught her with his head.

"Thanks, bud." she said softly as Toothless supported her towards the door.

Cautiously as not to hurt Hiccup any further, Toothless inched his way closer to the door with Hiccup leaning on his side. Reaching the door, Hiccup was able to stand on her own as she extended her hand out to the doorhandle.

However as she opened the door, her eyes were greeted with a large snarling Monstrous Nightmare. Out of natural reaction, she slammed the door shut and looked back to Toothless. Then she recalled that the Nightmare looked like Hookfang.

"Toothless, stay here." she said as she opened the door again. This time however, she saw that her cousin was atop the Nightmare with nearly a dozen vikings behind him on dragons of their own.

"Come on, guys, get ready! Hold on tight! Here we go!" Snotlout said as he led the vikings and their dragons off.

Stepping out of her home, Hiccup could barely believe what she was seeing. Vikings and dragons living and working together. "I knew it. I'm dead."

"No, but you gave it your best shot." Hiccup heard her father say as he came up next to her.

Placing a hand over her shoulder, Stoick gestured out to the village. "So? What do you think?"

At this point, vikings and dragons alike began to see Hiccup standing at the top of the hill.

"Hey, look! It's Hiccup!" one viking announced, causing nearly two dozen of them to swarm up to Hiccup.

"Hiccup, how you doin' lass?"

"It's great to see you up and about."

Hiccup was utterly shocked. The people looked up to her and praised her. For dragon riding?

"Turns out all we needed was a little more of... this." Stoick said, gesturing to Hiccup.

Wide-eyed, Hiccup smiled as she replied to her father "You just gestured to all of me."

"Good thing you still are all of you. Your burn could have been worse had Draven not had that medicine of his." Fishlegs said as he joined the crowd.

Pulling out a brand new saddle and bright red leather tail for Toothless, Gobber handed it to his apprentice. "Welcome home."

Toothless had come out now to see Hiccup as well. "Night Fury! Get down!" one Vikings yelled out as Toothless jumped over all of them to get to his rider. Seeing her okay as well as sniffing his new saddle and flying gear, he knew everything would be alright.

Hiccup kept looking around at the crowd and genuinely didn't know what to do or what to say. She had never been appreciated before for who she was and yet here she was. Stoick, Gobber, the twins, Fishlegs, Andor, even Snotlout, all were there for her. All except one. "Where's Draven?" Hiccup asked.

"He's by the cliff." Andor answered. "Seeing you burned, well let's just say he's blaming himself."

Shaking her head at how Draven always burdened himself with everything, Hiccup left the group in search of her companion.

...

Hiccup had gone down the the cliff side overlooking the docks where Andor said Draven was. The hybrid was indeed there, standing alone without his mask and his hood down. Why would he be standing here? Why wasn't he there when Hiccup woke up? Of course Hiccup didn't blame him. After all, she was the only person he cared for in his life, and seeing her hurt would no doubt hurt him as well.

"Draven?" the hybrid heard a soft, gentle voice say behind him. Feeling a shiver run down his back, he slowly turned to see Hiccup smiling with her radiant emerald eyes staring at him.

Unable to control his emotions, Draven quickly stepped towards Hiccup and pulled her into a tight embrace. After all, she was the one who made him retain his humanity when he first changed five years ago. She was the one who motivated him to better himself and come back to Berk. She was the reason he was still alive, for without her, Draven saw his life as meaningless.

His hug was a bit tight though and Hiccup did groan slightly to the pressure on her burned areas. Hearing her, Draven let go of her and stepped back. "Ugh, sorry... I just, uh... I mean I'm glad that you're okay but...i-" Draven stuttered out, feeling ashamed that he couldn't get to Hiccup in time to prevent her getting hurt.

Hiccup however cut him short. "Oh shut up." Hiccup said as she wrapped her arms around Draven's neck and pulled him down into a kiss. The hybrid tensed slightly at first, but soon relaxed and sank into their kiss, wrapping his own arms around her to deepen it.

When they separated, the rested their foreheads against each other, with emerald eyes meeting that of crimson. "I love you." Hiccup softly whispered to Draven. "I love you too." the hybrid soothingly replied. For a while, all the two did was stand there as they leaned into each other's embrace.

...

Later in the day, all the teens had gathered together to take their dragons around the island. Assembling and testing Toothless' new tail, she patted her dragon on his side. "You ready?" Hiccup asked Toothless. "Always." Toothless eagerly answered, ready to get back in the air for the feeling of freedom. Looking to her side, Hiccup saw Draven with Violet, also ready to take to the sky.

Looking around, dozens of vikings with their dragons were doing the same; bonding and working together for the better of the island. They had done it. It took them years and countless challenges, but Hiccup and Draven had done it.

If someone had told you that dragons used to be hunted on Berk, you'd probably call them senile. That was the old Berk. Sure most things were still the same there on the island, like how it snows nine months of the year, and hails the other three. Any food that grows there is tough and tasteless. The people that grow here are even more so.

The only difference now to the island are the pets. While other places have dogs, cats or parrots, the people of Berk have something better. They have dragons.


End file.
